Open access articles are published under a Creative Commons license. Moving from "All rights reserved" to "Some rights reserved", Creative Commons helps authors legally share their knowledge and creativity to build a more equitable, accessible, and innovative world. Under CC license, the author always retains the copyright of the works.
There are many types of licenses under Creative Commons, among which CC BY (Creative Commons Attribution) is the most popular one. OA articles published under the terms of CC BY license permits others to use, distribute and reproduce in any medium, even commercially, as long as the original work is properly cited. Always check publisher's copyright and licensing policies before you publish in open access (see an example from Wiley).
Creative Commons Symbols Content Creators attach their CC licenses to their works. These terms and symbols describe permitted uses:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
BY - |
NC - |
SA - |
ND - No derivative uses |
CC0 - Public Domain |
| Credit (Attribution) must be given to the creator | Only non-commercial uses of the work are permitted | Adaptations (modified version) must be shared under the same license as the original | No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted | Reuse in any medium or format, with no conditions |
There are types of CC licenses the content creators can attach to their works with a spectrum of choices between retaining all rights and relinquishing all rights (public domain).
Credit (Attribution) must be given to the creator
Credit (Attribution) must be given must be given to the creator
Adaptations (modified version) must be shared under the same license as the original Credit (Attribution) must be given must be given to the creator
Only non-commercial uses of the work are permitted Credit (Attribution) must be given must be given to the creator
Only non-commercial uses of the work are permitted
Adaptations (modified version) must be shared under the same license as the original
Credit (Attribution) must be given must be given to the creator
No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted Credit (Attribution) must be given must be given to the creator
Only non-commercial uses of the work are permitted
No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted
CC0 (aka CC Zero) is a public dedication tool, which allows others to reuse in any medium or format, with no conditions.
Remarks:
You can click HERE to check out the official CC website for more information about CC licenses.
All CC licenses except public domain materials require giving credit (attribution) to the creator.
Comparison of CC licenses. CC BY is the most "free" license while CC BY-NC-ND is the most strict one.
Among all, CC BY, CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-ND are most commonly used licenses by publishers.
| Read, Download, Print | Share, Distribute |
Reuse, Build on (non-commercially) |
Tweak, Remix, Translate | Reuse Commercially | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Attribution |
√ | √ | √ | √ | √ |
|
Attribution-ShareAlike |
√ | √ | √ |
√ Adapted versions must be shared under CC BY-SA or a compatible license. (General license of Wikipedia) |
√ |
|
Attribution-NoDerivs |
√ | √ | √ | X | √ |
|
Attribution-NonCommercial |
√ | √ | √ | √ | X |
|
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike |
√ | √ | √ |
√ Adapted versions must be shared under CC BY-SA or a compatible license. (General license of Wikipedia)
|
X |
|
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs |
√ | √ | √ | X | X |
(Source: Creative Commons - About The Licenses)
CC BY (Attribution) 
CC BY-SA (Attribution-ShareAlike) 
CC BY-NC (Attribution-NonCommercial) 
CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike) 
CC BY-ND (Attribution-NoDerivs) 
CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs) 
