Creative Commons (CC) licenses are common types of open licensing used to enable global accessibility, dissemination, and reusability of scholarly research. There are various types of CC licenses, the technical names of which don’t always make it clear to authors what the licensing conditions entail. Some of the most common licenses are CC BY, CC-BY-ND, and CC-BY-NC-ND. In this article, we’ll explain the differences between each type and recommend the best for your needs as an author.
What are Creative Commons licenses?
Creative Commons licenses are legal frameworks that grant access and usage rights to the public whilst reserving other rights. They are the gold-standard for authors looking to share their research widely on the internet. The legal framework of a CC license serves to protect your intellectual property against those who might misuse it, at the same time as maximising useability and shareability of your work in various contexts.
In academic contexts, CC licenses are typically applied to open access journal articles, scholarly monographs and edited books, and open educational resources.
There are six types of CC license. These include:
- Attribution (CC BY)
- Attribution ShareAlike (CC BY–SA)
- Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY-ND)
- Attribution-NonCommerical (CC BY-NC)
- Attribution-NonCommerical-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA)
- Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)
Of the six types, CC BY, CC BY-ND and CC BY-NC-ND are perhaps the most common for authors to apply to their work. Let’s compare these three open licenses and explain the terms.
CC BY vs CC BY-ND vs CC BY-NC-ND
Let’s start with the most common type of Creative Commons license in open access: CC BY.
CC BY
Attribution, or “BY”, means that others can distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, so long as proper credit is given to the author. Attribution includes:
- Author’s name;
- Title of the work;
- Link to the original material;
- Link to the CC BY license;
- Disclosure of any changes made.
CC BY is the most open license available to authors, providing the most flexibility and visibility. It is also the most compliant with the majority of funder mandates. Always verify funder and institutional policy before selecting a license.
CC BY-ND
Attribution-NoDerivs, or “BY-ND”, means that others can reuse the work in any context, including commercially. However, it cannot be shared with others in adapted form, and credit must still be given to the author.
This type of license might be useful for authors wanting to freely share their work with others without them changing, translating, or editing the original material.
CC BY-NC-ND
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDervis, or “BY-NC-ND”, means that others can download and share your work so long as proper credit is given, but it cannot be changed in any way or used commercially.
This license is the most restrictive of the Creative Commons licenses. It might be useful if the original work contains sensitive material, and the author wants to limit the potential for the work to be misconstrued by others.
Which license should you use?
This question largely depends on what you want to achieve with your work. Some authors might need to select a license that has stricter conditions. For example, if they don’t want others to change or interpret the work in a way that is not appropriate.
The license that is the most flexible and open is the CC BY license, and authors should select this type if they want maximum research visibility and engagement.
Preprints and open licensing
Open practices, including licensing, are a crucial part of the preprint process. The growth and adoption of open practices have been supported by the development of preprint policy frameworks that seek to standardise the use of licenses for preprints, among other things. In these frameworks, a CC BY license is strongly recommended for preprints (unless the work is waived through a CC0 public domain detection).
Preprints.org uses a CC BY 4.0 license as its default for preprints posted on the server. The “4.0” simply means it is the fourth and latest version of the CC BY license. This version contains clearer language and works more smoothly across different international legal systems without needing local translations.
For authors posting a preprint on Preprints.org, the CC BY 4.0 license ensures that your research reaches a global audience and complies with open access funder mandates, whilst also being suitable to be reused in a variety of educational and commercial contexts. Learn more about how preprints function in a similar way to Open Educational Resources (OERs).
If you want to post a preprint and benefit from open access licensing, find out about how to submit.