CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Mar. 7, 2008 - In a move to encourage open education, MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) and Elsevier have agreed to make available figures and text selections from any of Elsevier's more than 2,000 journal titles for use on OCW.
As a result of this landmark agreement, select Elsevier content can now be included within the open access OCW course materials - to be freely downloaded, used and shared under a Creative Commons license. The Elsevier content includes up to three figures (including tables and illustrations) per individual article (or ten per journal volume) and up to 100 words from a single text extract (or 300 words from a series of extracts).
"This is a great example of how publishers and institutions can work together to support the academic community, in this case by making it easier to use copyright works for academic purposes," said Mark Seeley, general counsel, Elsevier. "MIT Open Courseware is making a very important and innovative contribution and we are delighted to be able to help make it even more successful," he continued.
Elsevier publishes prestigious journals within the science and health fields including, Journal of Biomechanics, Cell, Journal of Structural Biology, Biomaterials, Polymer, and Planetary & Space Sciences. The full list is available at http://www.elsevier.com.
The agreement will significantly increase the richness of OCW materials, since many of the illustractions reduce the amount of time that professors, their staff and OCW staff would have otherwise spent searching and obtaining permissions for individual quotes and figures.
Cecilia d'Oliveira, acting executive director of OCW said, "We hear from thousands of students, educators, and self learners everyday about how OCW materials have helped changed their lives. Offering additional resources to these people will make an even greater impact on open learning and education. We hope this agreement will inspire other publishers to join in these efforts to unlock knowledge and empower people around the world."
