Which License should an Author Choose for Open Access?
There are multiple options, which is best?
Answer
Sometimes, the funder requires a specific license, so it is important to check your funder’s policy before selecting a license.
As of July 2021, the ERC does not appear to have a specific requirement: "In all cases, the Commission encourages authors to retain their copyright and grant adequate licences to publishers. Creative Commons offers useful licensing solutions. This type of licence is a good legal tool for providing open access in its broadest sense."
https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/docs/h2020-funding-guide/cross-cutting-issues/open-access-data-management/open-access_en.htm
All Creative Commons CC-BY options mean that your work will be open access.
- CC BY license permits any use of the content without permission, provided the author and source are cited. This is the most open license, and is favored by many open access advocates. This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation.
- CC BY-NC-ND is the next most common open access license and the most restrictive, only allowing others to download your work and share them with others as long as they credit you. They are NOT permitted to change the work in any way or use it commercially.
- CC BY-NC-SA lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms.
- Additional options are available