Licences

Assigning a licence to research data is a standardized way of defining terms of use for the data. The FAIR principles recommend that all data materials should have clear licences so that users understand what is and is not permitted to do with the material.  

Some journals require data to have a licence, and sometimes they even specify which licences must be applied. However, in most cases, the copyright holder determines the appropriate licence for the material.  

Practices may vary between universities and organizations, depending on their intellectual property (IP) policies. If you are unsure whether your organisation has a policy on licensing, you can contact your local research data supportOpens in a new tab.

Creative Commons licences  

A common way to license materials is by using a Creative CommonsOpens in a new tab licence. There are several types of CC licences, each granting different rights to users. Some examples include:

• CC0Opens in a new tab – No copyright – the creator has waived all his or her rights to the work.
• CC-BYOpens in a new tab – Attribution – you may share, reuse, modify, and redistribute the material, but you must give appropriate credit to the original creator.

Other CC licences impose varying restrictions on how the material can be used. CC BY-SA (Attribution-ShareAlike) allows material to be modified and shared freely, provided that the original creator is credited, the source is cited, and it is indicated if any modifications were made. Any derivative works must be shared under the same licence. CC BY-ND (Attribution-NoDerivatives) permits free copying and redistribution of the material, but it cannot be modified. The original form must be preserved. As with all BY licences, appropriate credit must also be given to the original creator. 

CC licences are based on copyright law copyright lawOpens in a new tab (PRV.se). In Sweden, not all research data are considered to have the necessary originality to be protected under copyright law. For research data from public universities and authorities, the terms for reuse are often governed more by confidentiality regulations than by copyright law.

The Swedish Agency for Digital Government (Digg) recommends (Rekommendation om öppna licenser och immaterialrättOpens in a new tab) that data created by a public authority and not subject to copyright or other intellectual property rights should be labelled with PDM – Public Domain MarkOpens in a new tab – or CC0. For data that are protected by copyright, Digg advises using CC-BY 4.0Opens in a new tab, which allows users to copy, share, modify, and build upon the material in any medium or format, and for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as appropriate credit is given to the original creator.

CC BY licences allow data users to acknowledge the scientific contributions of data creators. They also help maintain data provenance – the origin and history of the data – which is a key aspect of the Reusable principle in the FAIR principles.

Other licences may also be relevant but are less common. If you have any questions, you can contact your local research data supportOpens in a new tab.

Reusing material with a CC licence

In most cases, it is possible to incorporate CC-licensed material into a new dataset while ensuring compliance with the licence conditions.  

For ShareAlike (SA) licences, the newly created material must be clearly distinguished from the reused SA-licensed material. If this is not possible (e.g., if modified images are incorporated), the entire dataset must be distributed under the SA licence, including data generated by the creator of the new dataset.  

For NoDerivatives (ND) licences, the material may only be included in a new dataset if it remains unmodified. If ND-licensed material is reused in a new dataset, it must be clearly identified within the dataset.  

An alternative licence that may be useful for databases is the Open Data Commons (ODC)Opens in a new tab licence, which allows different licences to be applied to the database structure and its content. This can be useful, for example, for an image collection where some images are protected by copyright. Otherwise, the Open Data Commons Attribution Licence (ODC-BY) is similar to the CC-BY licence.  

Software and source code  

Software can be subject to copyright, which means that it may also require a licence. Assigning a licence to source code and software clarifies how they can be reused and under what conditions. It is generally best to use licences that allow open-source distribution. Open-source licences allow the software’s source code to be accessed, modified, and redistributed for various types of reuse.