Even though Creative Commons and other open licenses mean you can reuse and edit content without restriction, it's still important to provide accurate attribution to the original resource and author and to make it clear when a work has been adapted or edited. These tools provide some guidance on best practices for attribution when reusing and/or editing Creative Commons licensed items.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Creative Commons licenses are a common open license, especially for scholarship and open educational resources (OER). Like other open licenses, they work within copyright and outline explicitly which rights the creator wishes to retain over their work. Creative commons licenses outline four central restrictions:
BY: Attribution. Users must attribute the original work and creator.
SA: Share Alike. Any edits must be shared using the same license as the original.
NC: Non-commercial. Users are not allowed to commercialize items. In other words, uses "primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or monetary compensation” are prohibited.
ND: No derivatives. Users are not allowed to make any derivatives of the original work. In other words, edits and adjustments, including translations, are prohibited.
These restrictions combine to make 6 Creative Commons licenses:
Each license can be interpreted by thinking: "Users are allowed to do whatever they want with the work as long as they _______," where you fill in the blank based on the restrictions. So, for example, the CC BY-NC-ND license can be interpreted as "Users are allowed to do whatever they want with the work as long as they attribute the original creator/work (BY) and don't commercialize (NC) or make changes to the work (ND)."
Hover over the license text for more information about what each license means. Clicking on the link will take users to the licenses' site on the Creative Commons website.
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