What are the Creative Commons licences?
Creative Commons (CC) are a suite of licences that an author applies to their work to set out the terms of how it can be shared and reused. CC licences allow you to make your work openly available while retaining control over how others use it.
How do I apply a Creative Commons License to my Work?
Easy: just indicate the type of CC license you wish to use alongside your work, including a link to the licence.
My Research Funder has an Open Access Policy Which Licence do I Choose?
If you are publishing peer-reviewed research which acknowledges a research grant your funder may require that you share your work under a specific licence e.g. UKRI, Wellcome and others. This is usually CC BY for journal articles and conference papers. Although CC BY is preferred for longform your funder may allow use of a different licence. Check the terms and conditions of your research grant if you are unsure. University of Aberdeen researchers can publish open access under the CC BY licence in hybrid journals by applying a Rights Retentions Statement to their submission.
Can I Reuse Work Under a Creative Commons Licence?
You can reuse work shared under a Creative Commons Licence as per the terms of the licence. Make sure that you attribute the work to the original creator, providing the title of the work and the URL to the original. You must also include a link to the Creative Commons licence and keep intact any Copyright statement.
If you have any questions about choosing a licence,please contact The Open Research Team.
There are six CC licenses plus the CC0 Public Domain Licence:
Watch our Toolkit video for a quick guide
This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use.CC BY includes the following elements:
This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms. CC BY-SA includes the following elements:
This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.CC BY-NC includes the following elements:
This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms.
This license enablesreusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use.CC BY-ND includes the following elements:
This license enables reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. CC BY-NC-ND includes the following elements:
The CC0 (aka CC Zero) is a public dedication tool, which enables creators to give up their copyright and put their works into the worldwide public domain. CC0 enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, with no conditions.
This blog post reuses content from the Creative Commons ‘About CC Licences’ webpage which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
© 2024. This work is openly licensed via CC BY 4.0.
