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Navigating Creative Commons: A Guide to CC BY, CC BY-NC, and CC BY-NC-ND Licenses

Navigating Creative Commons: A Guide to CC BY, CC BY-NC, and CC BY-NC-ND Licenses

July 05, 2024

Unsure which CC BY license to choose for your open access article? Read on to discover the benefits and drawbacks of each license.

CC BY: Attribution License 

Description: The CC BY license is the most open option in the Creative Commons suite. It requires that others credit you as the original author when using your work. Under CC BY, anyone can share, copy, redistribute, adapt, remix, transform, and build upon your article—even for commercial purposes—without asking permission.

Dr. Elena

In Action: Dr. Elena Chen, a rising star in CRISPR gene editing, publishes her groundbreaking technique in the top-tier "Genome Research" journal under CC BY. As an early-career researcher, she wants her method to be widely adopted, hoping it becomes a standard protocol in the field.

                               

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CC BY-NC: Attribution-NonCommercial

Description: The CC BY-NC license allows others to copy, distribute, adapt, and build upon your work for non-commercial purposes only. They must credit you and cannot use your work for financial gain without your permission. "Non-commercial" generally means not primarily for monetary compensation or financial gain.

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In Action: Professor Aditya Gupta, an environmental economist, publishes his study on the true cost of carbon in "Ecological Economics." His research suggests policies that could impact industries. He chooses CC BY-NC to prevent misuse by lobbying groups.

                            

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CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives 

Description: The most restrictive of the Creative Commons licenses, CC BY-NC-ND allows others to download and share your work as long as they credit you, but they can't change it in any way or use it commercially. Your article must remain in its original form.

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In Action: Dr. Sophia Martinez, a renowned psychiatrist, publishes a qualitative study on PTSD in war journalists in "Journal of Traumatic Stress." Her work includes deeply personal narratives. She opts for CC BY-NC-ND to protect her subjects' exact words.

                                 

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Please note that the authors referenced in this article are fictional and have been created for illustrative purposes only.

Some funders and institutions mandate specific Creative Commons license types - check with your librarian or funder.

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