A data licence protects your data, indicating what a user is allowed to do with them, and creates clarity and certainty for potential users.

Creative Commons licences  are commonly used for research data. These provide a standardized way to grant permission to re-use data and specify whether whether there are conditions for data reuse (e.g. whether attribution is mandatory, commercial use is limited or no derivatives are allowed).

You can use this guidance from Creative Commons (creativecommons.org) to check which licence fits your data.

Image: “Open Science: A Practical Guide for Early-Career Researchers”.(2023) Zenodo. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.7716153.

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Good to know:

– If you deposit your data in a repository, note that some repositories use only public domain (CC0) licences (e.g. Dryad) while in others you can select a licence for your data as part of the deposit process.

– For certain types of data (e.g. confidential data) you might need a custom licence as a CC licence might not be suitable. Learn more about CC and custom licences on Choosing a license | RDM Support UU

– For research software other licences apply. Check this decision tree prepared by the Science Research Support Office for more information.