Open Resources

Crediting Images: Creative Commons and Public Domain Images

Images require specific citation information, depending on the source. The following information outlines how to cite open images.

Note: It’s best if the credit line appears with the image (especially in a PowerPoint presentation) rather than being listed at the end of a document or slide presentation, but it’s okay to put it in a smaller font than the body text.

Works in the Public Domain (including Pixabay)

Images in the public domain (e.g., ClipArt, Pixabay, United States govt, some Wikimedia Commons, images over 50 years old) still need to be credited. Credit the photographer/creator whenever possible.

The CC0 designation, devised by Creative Commons, indicates that an image has been granted to the public domain.

Examples:

If the image has no formal title, add a short description in square brackets:

If no CC0 designation has been used, then leave it out and just include “Public domain.”

Creative Commons Images (including Flickr)

The credit for a Creative Commons image requires the inclusion of four pieces of information:

1. Title: State the title, if given, or if there is no title, include a brief description of the image in square brackets.
2. Author/Creator: The name or user name of the creator of the image.
3. Source: Hyperlink the title or description of the image to the page on which the original work is posted.
4. CC Licence: State the type of Creative Commons licence that the work was posted under and, if possible, link it back to the licence details on creativecommons.org. For the types of licence, you can use either the full licence name (e.g., Creative Commons Attribution licence 4.0) or the short form (e.g., CC BY 4.0).

Examples:

or

• Best Practices for attribution 

The Most Common Types of Creative Commons Licenses

There are other types of CC licenses, but these are the most common:

1. CC BY: Attribution—You can distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon the image as long as you credit the image’s creator.
2. CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike—You can distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon the image as long as you credit the image’s creator and license the “new” creation under the identical terms.
3. CC BY-ND: Attribution-NoDerivs—You can use or distribute the image but you cannot change it in any way and you must also credit the image’s creator.

Wikimedia Commons/Wikipedia

Use the Attribution Generator for items found Wikipedia or Wikimedia Commons.

Caution

Google Images and Bing collect images from other sites which may not allow content to be reused, even for educational or non profit purposes.

The 'Usage rights' filter on Google Images is imperfect and may return inaccurate results. 

If you do find an image on one of these sites, track it back to its original source using the TinEye website. Check the terms of use of the website as it "may give permission for use in non-profit or educational purposes. If not and the image is itself legally posted, then you may still be able to use the image under the Fair Dealing user right or the Internet materials exception."

Questions? Refer to the Copyright Officer.