Creative Commons is a non-profit organization that developed legal tools to help creators share their work openly. These licenses, also called Creative Commons licenses, are both human- and machine-readable and clearly outline the permissions granted by the copyright holder—who still retains full ownership of the work.
Creative Commons licenses are not a substitute for copyright; rather, they work alongside it. They allow creators to customize how others can use their work, promoting the sharing and reuse of creative and scholarly content through simple, free legal tools
Each of the 6 creative commons licenses is broken down into a a three layer system.
Creative Commons. “3.1 License Design and Terminology.” Creative Commons Certificate for Educators, Academic Librarians, and Open Culture, https://certificates.creativecommons.org/cccertedu/chapter/3-1-license-design-and-terminology/. Accessed 27 August, 2025
Creative Commons Licenses consist of a combination of four (4) basic elements, with corresponding logos that indicate the permissions the copyright holder grants to the users. These elements combine to form six (6) CC license options.
Attribution or BY. All licenses include this element.
Non-commercial or NC. This designates that the work can only be used for non-commercial purposes (uses not intended for “commercial advantage or monetary gain”).
Share Alike or SA. This indicates that adaptations based on the work must be licensed under the same or compatible license.
No Derivatives or ND. This means that users cannot share adaptations of the work. (Users may make adaptations for private use but users may not distribute those adaptations.)
Note: Licenses that have the No-derivative element are considered Open Access but NOT Open Educational Resources, because the no-derivative element does not allow for remixing one of the essential 5 Rs to OER.
Copyright and CC licenses provide a range of “openness” to users. Licensors can choose how open or permissive a license to apply, from All Rights Reserved to Some Rights Reserved to No Rights Reserved (material dedicated to the Public Domain).
Creative Commons License Spectrum, by Shaddim is licensed under CC BY 4.0
CC BY or Attribution License. Others may use the work for any purpose with attribution given to the creator.
CC BY-SA or Attribution-ShareAlike License. Others may use the work for any purpose with attribution given to the creator; the adaptation must be licensed under the same or compatible license.
CC BY-NC or Attribution-NonCommercial License. Others may use the work for non-commercial uses only with attribution given to the creator.
CC BY-NC-SA or Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. Others may use the work for non-commercial uses only with attribution given to the creator; the adaptation must be licensed under the same or compatible license.
CC BY-ND or Attribution-NoDerivatives License. Others may use the unmodified work for any purpose with attribution given to the creator.
CC BY-NC-ND or Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License. Others may use the unmodified work for noncommercial uses only with attribution given to the creator.
When OER creators, are often functioning as users when incorporating existing OER into original work. It is important to be aware of how the existing licensed works compatibility.
Users can combine material under different CC licenses, but with some caveats:
"CC License Compatibility Chart" by Kennisland licensed under a CC0 1.0
When someone creates original work, they own the copyright and can decide how others use it. Creative Commons provides licenses that help creators set clear rules for sharing and reuse.
Although some creators may initially find the licensing process daunting, applying a Creative Commons license is very simple.
Chose a license
Apply it to the work
Before licensing a work consider:
Simply add a Creative Commons License badge to a work is enough to license a work openly.
Make the license easy to locate. Most frequently creators will place their license in a copyright notice, on the footer of a website, or any other place that makes sense in light of the particular format/medium of the work. Be aware that some publishers and different platforms will have their own built in CC License marking mechanisms.
Formatting a License: There is no strict format for licensing a work, but it is recommended using a link (or writing out the CC license URL, if you are working offline) to the relevant CC license deed.
All Creative Commons licenses require that attribution be given to the creator of the content. Proper attribution allows the public to access the original work, identify the original creators, and know what license terms apply to specific content. The best practice for attribution is to follow the TASL approach:
An ideal attribution will follow the format:
![](<a href="https://imgflip.com/i/a4bm6z"><img src="https://i.imgflip.com/a4bm6z.jpg" title="made at imgflip.com"/></a><div><a href="https://imgflip.com/memegenerator">from Imgflip Meme Generator</a></div>)
"How to Attribute Creative Commons Photos" by foter is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
When working with resources users may interchange the words "attribution" and "citation" but each serves a different purposes, requiring different information and formatting based on how the resources are used.
This page of the guide is a derivative of "Open Educational Resources (OER) Program; Creative Commons Licensing Libguide" by Michigan State University Libraries licensed under a CC BY 4.0.
This page of the guide is a derivative of "Copyright; Creative Commons Licenses" by University of Arizona Libraries, © [2025] The Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of The University of Arizona, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Ask WOU Library