Open Access Week: Creative Commons Licenses

Creative Commons Licenses can help authors/content creators more explicitly indicate how their work can be used and shared. Specifically, "[w]ith a Creative Commons license, you keep your copyright but allow people to copy and distribute your work provided they give you credit — and only on the conditions you specify... ."

Simply follow the instructions provided on the "Choose a License" page. You will then be provided some HTML code to insert on your web site or you can include a link from your document, photo, video or other creative work to the relevant license.

Here is a breakdown of the six CC licenses available:

• = Attribution 
• = Attribution and No Derivatives 
• = Attribution and Share Alike
• = Attribution and Non Commercial
• = Attribution and Non Commercial and No Derivatives 
• = Attribution and Non Commercial and Share Alike

So what do these mean?  The CC site provides a wealth of information about not only the licenses but also things to consider before selecting a license.  For just a basic introduction, read Wikipedia's entry. And for a helpful interpretation of these icons, in "plain English," read this blog post.

CC licenses are popping up all over the place, and discussions about open access invariably reference them. For example, funders of open access research are increasingly requiring that specific types of licenses be used. A case in point is the Research Councils UK, whose policy expresses a preference for publication in an OA journal operating under the most liberal license, or CC BY.

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