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Open Access and Depositing your Research: Creative Commons: an overview

What are Creative Commons licences?

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools.

  • “The free, easy-to-use copyright licenses provide a simple, standardized way to give the public permission to share and use your creative work — on conditions of your choice. CC licenses let you easily change your copyright terms from the default of ‘all rights reserved’ to ‘some rights reserved’
  • Creative Commons licenses are not an alternative to copyright. They work alongside copyright and enable you to modify your copyright terms to best suit your needs.
  • Creative Commons offers licenses and tools to the public free of charge and does not require that creators or other rights holders register with CC in order to apply a CC license to a work. This means that CC does not have special knowledge of who uses the licenses and for what purposes, nor does CC have a way to contact creators beyond means generally available to the public. CC has no authority to grant permission on behalf of those persons, nor does CC manage those rights on behalf of others.
  • "If you would like to obtain additional permissions to use the work beyond those granted by the license that has been applied, or if you’re not sure if your intended use is permitted by the license, you should contact the rights holder.” (Creative Commons 2014).
“The free, easy-to-use copyright licenses provide a simple, standardized way to give the public permission to share and use your creative work — on conditions of your choice. CC licenses let you easily change your copyright terms from the default of ‘all rights reserved’ to ‘some rights reserved’. - See more at: http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2014/04/15/getting-to-grips-with-creative-commons-licensing/#sthash.PVlBHt5D.dpuf
“The free, easy-to-use copyright licenses provide a simple, standardized way to give the public permission to share and use your creative work — on conditions of your choice. CC licenses let you easily change your copyright terms from the default of ‘all rights reserved’ to ‘some rights reserved’. - See more at: http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2014/04/15/getting-to-grips-with-creative-commons-licensing/#sthash.PVlBHt5D.dpuf

How does this work?

The six Creative Commons licences from least restrictive to most restrictive.

Why do we need CC licences?

New ways of publishing on the internet require different licensing arrangements, so that work can be freely shared and reconfigured to advance research. Creative Commons allows this flexibility.

  • Creators can retain their copyright and allow specified re-use depending on the licence chosen.
  • Users can see immediately what they are allowed to do with a work without the time-consuming need to contact the author for permission.

British Library's Guide to Copyright and Creative Commons in Research

Learn the basics of copyright and licensing, find out what to consider when publishing your work and how to make use of published materials in your own research.