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Scholarly Communication

What is Creative Commons (CC)?

Creative Commons (CC) is an international non-profit organization dedicated to expanding the global commons of openly shared knowledge and culture. By providing a suite of standardized copyright licenses, Creative Commons provides creators a way to legally share their work with the public while retaining certain rights. Whether it's text, images, video, or educational materials, a CC license clearly communicates how a work can be used, reused, and adapted under copyright law.

Creative Commons licensing is widely adopted across sectors. For example...

... all of Wikipedia’s are freely available under a CC license.

... the Metropolitan Museum of Art shares images of public-domain works using the CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) designation, placing them fully in the public domain.

... educational platforms like Khan Academy also use CC licenses. Many of their lessons are available under CC BY-NC-SA, supporting open access to learning materials.

For more information about Creative Commons licenses, or if you have any questions, please contact digitalcommons@fairfield.edu.

What are the CC License Options?

 

Creative Commons licenses are made up of one or more license elements:

Attribution (BY)
Share Alike (SA)
Non-Commercial (NC)
No Derivatives (ND)

Image by Rie Namba, licensed CC BY 4.0

 

 

The 4 elements can be combined to create 6 different licensing options.

Image by Foter, licensed by CC BY-SA 3.0

 

How Do I Apply a CC License to My Work?

 

Before assigning a Creative Commons (CC) license it's important to understand a few key principles:

  • Licenses are irrevocable - Once a CC license is applied to your work, the permission is permanent. Anyone who accessed it under the license retains their right to use it as originally granted as long as copyright applies, even if you decide to stop sharing your work at a later date.
  • You must hold the rights - Only the copyright holder, or someone explicitly authorized by the copyright holder, can apply a CC license.

 

 

Licensing your work with Creative Commons is straightforward. Creative Commons offers a Creative Commons License Chooser to help select a license and generate embed code for licenses. Select a license that aligns with how you want others to use your work. Then, make that choice clearly visible to your audience. It can be as simple as the short statement: 

© 2025. This work is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

If you're publishing online, license metadata can be embedded directly into website HTML.