Users’ rights and document licences

Licensing options

Open access publications are made available under an open license, typically a Creative Commons license (CC license). The license identifies the copyright holder, usually the author, and specifies the conditions for re-use of the work (user’s rights).

A general condition of CC licenses is that the person making use of the work must attribute, or give credit to, the original author of the work. The way in which the work should be attributed is often specified. Beyond this condition, other conditions for re-use of the work are determined in specific CC licenses.

Creative Commons - Attribution CC BY

End users are allowed to copy, distribute, display, and perform the copyrighted work — and derivative works based upon it — but only if they give credit the way requested.

Creative Commons – No Derivative Works CC BY-ND

End users are allowed to copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it, with credit to the author.

Creative Commons – Non-Commercial CC BY-NC

End users are allowed to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work — and derivative works based upon it — but for non-commercial purposes only and although their new works must also acknowledge the author and be non-commercial, they don’t have to licence their derivative works on the same terms.

Creative Commons – Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives CC BY-NC-ND

This licence is the most restrictive of the six main licences, allowing redistribution. This licence is often called the “free advertising” license because it allows others to download the works and share them with others as long as they mention the mention the author and link back to the author, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.

For more detailed information on the Creative Commons licences visit: http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses/

All Rights Reserved

If not stated otherwise, all works in the OAPEN Online Library fall under the OAPEN Deposit Licence – all rights reserved. End users are allowed to read the work online, download, print and copy it for their own personal purposes within the legal framework of their national copyright law. Beyond this all rights are reserved.