Overview

Creative Commons licenses simplify how creators grant permission for others to use their work. With six main license types available, authors can easily understand what each license means for their published work. Visit the Creative Commons website for more information.

Creative Commons licenses give everyone from individual creators to large institutions a standardized way to grant the public permission to use their creative work under copyright law. From the reuser’s perspective, the presence of a Creative Commons license on a copyrighted work answers the question, What can I do with this work? For more information on reusing Sage content, visit our webpage 'Reusing Open Access and Sage Choice Content'.

What types of licenses are there available in the Sage Open Access Portal?

Please note, not all license options listed below will be shown on every article. The Sage Open Access Portal will present the licenses that comply with specific funder or Open Access agreement mandates.

CC BY: This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use.
CC BY-SA: This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms.
CC BY-NC: This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.
CC BY-NC-SA: This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms.
CC BY-ND: This license enables reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use.
CC BY-NC-ND: This license enables reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.

BY: Credit must be given to the creator.

SA: Adaptations must be shared under the same terms.

NC: Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted.

ND: No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted.

Visit the Creative Commons website to find out more about the Creative Commons license types.

CC.BY.IGO

In some special circumstances, the CC-BY.IGO license might be required by WHO (the World Health Organization). It is WHO's responsibility to inform their authors about this customized license requirement for Open Access (OA) publications.

Authors will not see the CC-BY IGO option when going to choose a license. To request this license, authors need to contact to the Open Access Customer Services team at openaccess@sagepub.com.
Once approved, authors and their employers must sign the license agreement, including the 'Work for hire' copyright portion.
The license will then be saved in the required systems by the Open Access Customer Services team and we will proceed to publish your article.

CC.BY-NC

According to the Sage Open Access policy, authors are typically offered a CC BY license only if it's mandated by an approved funder. You can refer to the CC.BY funding institutions list to find out if your institution is eligible for a CC.BY license. Otherwise, authors are encouraged to publish with a CC BY-NC license, allowing for proper referencing and non-commercial use of their work. If you have specific funding or potential commercial use needs, we can connect you with our Commercial Sales team, please email Open Access Customer Services team at openaccess@sagepub.com so that we can forward your query to them for assistance. They can assist with arrangements for reprints or eprints under the CC.BY-NC license, while maximizing the visibility of your article.

Contact Information

For further assistance, contact the Sage Open Access Customer Services team at openaccess@sagepub.com.

For general author queries, please visit the Author FAQs in our Sage Journals Knowledge Base which contains answers to common questions.

How can Sage Support help today?