MIT news: Global impact of sharing 'open access' research & knowledge

Three years after MIT faculty chose to make their scholarly articles openly accessible through the MIT Faculty Open Access Policy, individuals around the world have benefited from free access to MIT's research. Comments submitted to the Open Access Articles Collection in DSpace@MIT reveal that faculty articles have helped a wide range of people — students trying to complete professional and undergraduate degrees; professors at universities with limited access to scholarly journals; independent researchers; those in need of medical information; and those working to stay current and advance their careers.

"I am an independent researcher from a third-world country not affiliated to any university or a company," a commenter from Nepal said. "I neither have access to paid journals nor I can afford them. MIT's Open Access is something I love and rely upon. … Thank you again for thinking about the unfortunates and keeping the information free and open."

Before the open-access movement, and even now, much of the content published in academic journals was inaccessible to general readers due to high subscription costs. The MIT faculty's groundbreaking decision to share their articles with the public has made a significant impact within academia and well beyond.