This issue of the Journal of Educational Theory and Practice is devoted to the study of open educational resources (OER) and their role in expanding access to knowledge across diverse educational contexts. As the cost of traditional instructional materials continues to rise and calls for equitable access to education intensify, open educational resources have emerged as a central strategy for reducing barriers to learning while enabling greater flexibility, adaptability, and collaboration in the creation and use of course content.

The contributions in this issue examine the pedagogical, institutional, and policy dimensions of OER adoption, including the design and evaluation of openly licensed course materials, the impact of OER on student learning outcomes and educational equity, institutional and faculty barriers to OER adoption, and the role of open licensing frameworks in supporting the reuse and adaptation of educational content across disciplines and geographic contexts. Several articles also address the particular promise and challenges of OER in under-resourced educational systems, where the cost of commercial textbooks and materials can present a significant obstacle to access.