The internal web page development platform has been spun out of Harvard University and will be marketed to other higher education bodies.

Harvard University has spun out its internal web page development platform called OpenScholar with the aim of marketing services to other higher education institutions.

Much of the OpenScholar development team will leave the university to be employed by a new company with the same name. Specifics on the business’s funding were not disclosed.

OpenScholar launched from the Harvard Web Publishing department in 2010 after development at the university’s Institute for Quantitative Social Science.

The open-source service facilitates website development with Harvard-specific capabilities such as support for citations and departmental brand unification.

While the core services will remain open-source, OpenScholar will sell hosting, customisation, live support and training to other higher education institutions.

The approximately 9,000 websites already created by Harvard faculty, students and staff using OpenScholar will retain access to the platform on current terms. Harvard Web Publishing will switch to overseeing consulting and digital strategy for the Harvard community.

Anne Marguiles, chief information officer and vice-president of Harvard University, said: “The OpenScholar software has transformed how Harvard faculty, staff, students and researchers share information and knowledge with the world.

“It will be exciting to see what the platform can achieve in its next phase of development.”