OpenStax is a non-profit educational initiative based at Rice University – one of the most prestigious research and training universities in the United States. Originally founded in 1999 and officially restructured under the name OpenStax in 2012 by Professor Richard Baraniuk, the organization was born with a single mission: To improve equal educational access for students globally by breaking down cost barriers.
Philosophy of “Open Educational Resources” (OER)
OpenStax’s entire collection of textbooks is published under the Open Educational Resources (OER) model. This means that all textbooks are licensed publicly (Creative Commons), allowing users worldwide to:
- Access online 100% free of charge.
- Legally download, print, and restructure.
- Localize (translate) into different languages without any barriers or copyright legal disputes.
International Standard Academic Quality
The core difference that makes OpenStax superior to ordinary free resources on the Internet is its rigorous quality assurance process. All textbooks (from core sciences like Mathematics, Physics, Biology to applied sciences like Economics, Management, Computer Science…) are compiled by leading professors and scholars.
Before publishing, materials must go through a rigorous Peer-reviewed process, ensuring the highest academic standards equivalent to expensive commercial textbooks from major publishers worldwide.
