When you upload your article, you are asked to choose a Creative Commons reuse license. Creative Commons (CC) licenses are a way for creators to encourage broad dissemination of their work by indicating to readers that the work can be reused and by specifying the conditions for that reuse. In the 20 years since CC licenses were first released, they have been used to license over 2 billion copyrighted works. Open access scholarly publications also frequently use CC licenses.
The UC Publication Management System supports the core six Creative Commons licenses:
- CC BY. Either the original work or a derivative work can be shared, with appropriate attribution, for commercial or noncommercial purposes. This the most open of the six licenses, permitting the broadest sharing and reuse.
- CC BY-NC. Either the original work or a derivative work can be shared with appropriate attribution, but only for noncommercial purposes.
- CC BY-ND. The original work can be shared with appropriate attribution, for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If someone creates a derivative work, like a translation, the license does not permit them to share that derivative work.
- CC BY-NC-ND. The original work can be shared with appropriate attribution, but only for noncommercial purposes. No derivative works can be shared.
- CC BY-SA. The original work or derivative works can be shared, with appropriate attribution, for commercial or noncommercial purposes. Any derivative works must also use a CC BY-SA license.
- CC BY-NC-SA. The original work or derivative works can be shared with appropriate attribution, but only for noncommercial purposes. Any derivative works must also use a CC BY-NC-SA license.
You may also opt out of a license and choose "No reuse license".
CC licenses cannot be revoked. Authors can re-share their work with a different license, but anyone who downloaded the work with the previous license can still use it under the terms of that earlier license. If a user wants to use a work in a way that goes beyond what the CC license allows or what the law otherwise allows (e.g. fair use), they must contact the copyright holder for separate permission.
For more information about CC licenses, see UC Office of Scholarly Communication: Creative Commons Licenses.
Which license should I choose?
When depositing your published article which falls under UC's open access policies, the UC Academic Senate strongly encourages choosing a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, to encourage maximum dissemination and use of UC scholarship.
Articles shared with a CC BY license can be:
- Shared on course, conference, lab, news, and other websites;
- Reproduced in print coursepacks, even when they are sold by commercial copy shops;
- Translated into other languages, and shared by their translators;
- Excerpted and combined with publications that use a different CC license (without implying the original author’s endorsement of the new work).
If your article does not fall under UC's open access policies, then you should consult the deposit page's Deposit Advice section for publisher-specific advice. You may also refer to the UC Office of Scholarly Communication: Creative Commons Licenses page for advice regarding publications which do not fall under the open access policies, such as preprints.
Does my publication fall under the open access policies?
If you authored the scholarly article while you were employed by the University of California, and it was published after one of the below dates, then it falls under the UC open access policies:
- UCSF Academic Senate faculty: May 21, 2012
- UC Systemwide Academic Senate faculty: July 24, 2013
- All other UC faculty and employees: October 23, 2015
The UC Publication Management System applies a filter on your publications which flags each one that is "In OA Policy". The filter is based on a) your campus, b) whether you are part of the Academic Senate, and c) whether the publication is a "scholarly article" as defined by your campus. In addition, the UCPMS only sends you a reminder email about publications that fall under the open access policy.
A screenshot of an "In OA Policy" flag in the publications list.
In addition, the deposit page will always indicate whether your publication falls under the open access policy based on your personal settings under Deposit Advice.
Example advice for an "In OA Policy" article: If you were a UC employee when you authored this publication, it falls under UC's open access policies.
Example advice for an article which is not "In OA Policy": This publication does not fall under UC's open access policies.