The Creative Commons licence allows researchers to make their publications as open as possible whilst retaining control over their reuse.
The CC BY licence is already essential for research funded by some research councils such as the Wellcome Trust, and may be essential for the next REF. Publishers should allow researchers to choose a CC BY licence if research is published Open Access, and particularly where the APC has been paid through an agreement listed on our Open Access page.
Please check your funder's requirements before you agree to publish in a journal and ensure your publisher agrees to the funder's Open Access and licensing terms.
Below are descriptions of current CC licence types, further information can be found on the Creative Commons website. Please email us if you have any questions.
| License image | Abbreviation | Description |
|---|---|---|
 |
CC BY |
Attribution - Distribute, remix, tweak and build upon your work as long as they credit you for the original creation |
 |
CC BY-NC |
Attribution-Non-Commercial - Remix, tweak, and build upon a work non-commercially. Although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms |
 |
CC BY-SA |
Attribution ShareAlike - Remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms |
 |
CC BY-NC-SA |
Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike - Remix, tweak, and build upon a work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms |
 |
CC BY-ND |
Attribution NoDerivates - Redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to you |
 |
CC BY-NC-ND |
Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives - Only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially |
