IPT2ApplyingLicense.wiki

How To Apply a License To a Dataset

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Dataset Level
• Record Level

Introduction

In accordance with the GBIF licensing policy, a dataset should be made available for use under CC0, CC-BY, or CC-BY-NC. GBIF's recommended best practice is to use the most recent version, which 4.0 for CC-BY and CC-BY-NC. This is in line with Creative Commons' recommendation that:

[y]ou should always use the latest version of the Creative Commons licenses in order to take advantage of the many improvements described on the license versions page. In particular, 4.0 is meant to be better suited to international use, and use in many different contexts, including sharing data.

More information about what's new in the 4.0 CC license suite can be found here. This is the version supported by the latest version of the IPT (v2.3.2).

The remainder of this page describes how to properly apply a license to a dataset, and how to ensure consistency at the dataset level and the record level.

Please note that CC0 is technically a waiver.

Dataset Level

The license chosen must apply to the dataset as a whole. Only one license should be applied at the dataset level, even if multiple licenses are complimentary to each other (e.g. CC-BY and ODC-By).

To apply a license at the dataset level in the IPT, choose a license from the drop down on the basic metadata page:

In case different licenses apply to separate components of a dataset, the recommended best practice is to publish each component separately having their own metadata and identifier (e.g. DOI). This recommendation is in compliance with DataCite's recommended practice for such cases.

Record Level

All licenses specified at the record level should comply with the license at the dataset level.

To apply a license at the record level using the IPT, publishers should use/map to the Darwin Core term license. As per Darwin Core's recommendation, the URI of the license should be used to populate the license. Be careful not to add contradictory usage restrictions in the Darwin Core term accessRights. In theory, the license should provide sufficient access rights information without having to specify them in accessRights also.

Please note the Darwin Core term rights has now been deprecated and should no longer be used.