Creative Commons Licenses

Creative Commons (CC) licenses allow you to legally share your work with others and specify how it can be used. These licenses are useful for researchers who want to share their work openly while maintaining some control over its use.

The vocabulary used in the description of the licenses is quite specific. Please refer to our definitions if you are unsure about the meaning of certain uses mentioned in the licenses.

Types of Creative Commons Licenses

There are seven main types of Creative Commons licenses, each with different permissions and restrictions.

Please note: If no license is selected, then the document is protected by copyright by default. Others must obtain permission from the copyright owner to use, copy, distribute, adapt, or display the work. Any unauthorized use may constitute copyright infringement and result in legal penalties.

1. CC BY (Attribution):

• • Allows: Others can distribute, remix, adapt, and develop/extend your work, even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you for the original creation.
  • Recommended for: Maximum distribution and use of licensed materials.

2. CC BY-SA (Attribution-ShareAlike):

• • Allows: Others can remix, adapt, and expand your work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and sublicense their new creations under the same terms.
  • Recommended for: Jobs that can benefit from collaborative efforts and should remain open.

3. CC BY-ND (Attribution-NoDerivs):

• • Allows: Redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as the work is transmitted unchanged and in its entirety, with credit to the author.
  • Recommended for: Works that you don't want to be changed.

4. CC BY-NC (Attribution-NonCommercial):

• • Allows: Others can remix, adapt, and expand your work for non-commercial purposes, and while their new works must also credit you and be non-commercial, they don't have to sublicense their derivative works on the same terms.
  • Recommended for: Works that you want to make freely available, but not used for commercial purposes.

5. CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike):

• • Allows: Others may remix, adapt, and expand your work for non-commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and sublicense their new creations under the same terms.
  • Recommended for: Non-commercial projects that benefit from collaboration and sharing.

6. CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs):

• • Allows: Others can download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can't modify them in any way or use them for commercial purposes.
  • Recommended for: Works that you want to make freely available with as few modifications as possible and non-commercial use.

7. CC0 (Public Domain):

• • Allows: Works under CC0 can be used by anyone, for commercial or non-commercial purposes, without the need to ask permission to remix, adapt, etc. And there is no need to give credit to the original author, although this is often considered good ethical practice.
  • Recommended for: It is rarely recommended to use this license in the case of scientific productions.