Answered By: Alessandra Seiter Last Updated: May 17, 2023 Views: 9443
Copyright & Royalties
If you're using one or more images in a paper, report, article, or other publication, you'll need to make sure you're avoiding copyright infringement. You can do so in one of two ways:
- Pay for the images.
- Use images that are royalty-free.
If an image meets one or more of the following criteria, it is royalty-free:
- Created by the U.S federal government.
- In the public domain (first copyrighted in the US prior to 1925) are not subject to copyright law and can be used by others. View Cornell University's "Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States" chart for more detailed information about the public domain.
- Subject to creative commons licenses (details below).
Even if an image is royalty-free, you may still need to abide by certain stipulations like attribution, depending on the image's terms of use.
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a set of licenses that allow people to use, share, and adapt existing images at no cost. Image creators can choose which Creative Commons license they want to apply to their work. Each license comes with certain stipulations that users must follow. Find all CC license types and their stipulations.
| License Name |
Do I need to give attribution? |
Is commercial use allowed? |
Can I edit the image? |
|---|---|---|---|
|
CC0 - Public Domain |
No | Yes | Yes |
|
BY - Attribution |
Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
BY-SA - Attribution - ShareAlike |
Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
BY-NC - Attribution - NonCommercial |
Yes | No | Yes |
|
BY-NC-SA - Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike |
Yes | No | Yes |
|
BY-ND - Attribution - NoDerivatives |
Yes | Yes | No |
|
BY-NC-ND - Attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivatives |
Yes | No | No |
Where to Find Royalty-Free & Creative Commons Images
Free Images - No Restrictions
Free Images - Mixed Restrictions
The sites below feature a mix of licensing requirements, some free and some not. Make sure to check each image's license before using (usually underneath the image itself, near the rest of the metadata). Most of these sites will allow you to filter your search to only include Creative Commons licenses.
- Google Images
- Wikimedia Commons
- Smithsonian Open Access
- Flickr Creative Commons
- U.S. Department of Defense
Many thanks to Rachel Harris at HKS' Carr Center for her expertise and contributions to the content in this FAQ.