Open Access & Creative Commons

What is it?

In an ideal world research communities, in particular publicly funded research communities, would make available their results for others to use, reference, adapt and improve upon. This mirrors the CGIAR principle of making available outputs from research as Global Public Goods. In practice, factors such as unaccommodating intellectual property management and political barriers are factors that can prohibit open access. We have concentrated our efforts on one particular tool to facilitate Open Access - that of Creative Commons Licences.

How does it work?

Creative Commons® (CC), a non profit organisation, was founded to help authors that were trying to respond to the stand-off between content industries and online communities. Its primary function is to facilitate free/low cost public use of original works. CC® made available free legal technical tools by releasing a standard set of copyright licences to enable the sharing of information both online and offline. The basic CC® license allows copyright holders to decide (1) whether others may make commercial use of their work, (2) whether others may make derivative works, and (3) if derivative works are allowed, whether those derivative works must be made available on the same licensing terms.  All licences require attribution as specified by the author of the work. In this way, copyright holders can structure their private rights to create public goods: creative works can be set “free” for certain uses, consistent with the main author’s specific intent.

What does CAS-IP intend to deliver?

CAS-IP is currently working on a “User’s Manual” for Creative Commons Licenses use by CGIAR Centres.