Creative Commons licenses
Creative Commons licenses, or CC licenses for short, provide authors with a simple way to specify the conditions under which their works can be used. When publishing your research open access, choosing the right CC license is crucial. Not issuing a license means making the free exchange of information more difficult, as this legally restricts the use of the works.
A CC license can only be granted if the publication is not subject to any other rights of use (which have been stated in the publishing contracts, for example).
A total of six licenses are available. The University and State Library of Münster recommends the following two licenses in particular, as they are in line with the Berlin open access declaration and the Budapest open access initiative and thus contain the fewest restrictions for use in research and teaching:
- CC BY: Attribution
Your work can be (re)edited and republished by others, but your name as the author of the original version must always be mentioned. - CC BY-SA: Attribution – Share Alike
Your work can be (re)edited and republished by others, but your name as the author of the original version must always be mentioned. The newly created document or even the commercial use of your work must be distributed under the same license terms as the source document.
The DEAL-Konsortium recommends the CC BY (Attribution) license, because it stands out as the best choice for maximizing the impact and reach of your work.
For more information on the distribution of CC licenses, see a brochure produced by iRights.info together with Wikimedia Deutschland and Creative Commons Deutschland or the Guide to Open Content Licenses
The Licence Chooser developed by Creative Commons offers help in choosing the right CC license.
Detailed information on CC licenses, e.g. for teaching, can be found in this compilation.