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Table 1 Attribution vs. citation in (re)uses of open access scientific content published under a Creative Commons Attribution license (CC-BY)

From: Open by default: a proposed copyright license and waiver agreement for open access research and data in peer-reviewed journals

Activity

Attribution and/or citation?

Explanation

Printing an article for display at a conference

Attribution

Printing an article is redistribution so covered by copyright (and attribution is achieved inherently by the authors’ names and copyright ownership being stated on the article)

Translating article for publication in another journal

Attribution + citation

Attribution is required as a translation is a derivative work, and most journal duplicate publication policies (an ethical requirement) require citation of the original paper for republications

Paraphrasing a concept or finding within a paper

Citation

If you rely on another scientists idea for your work credit is due to the previous author through citation

Reusing a figure, table or graph

Attribution + citation

Reusing a figure, table or graph is copying and redistribution, so requires attribution; by presenting another scientist’s representation of their data you need to give credit to their original work

Publication of a reanalysis of data published as an additional file in a journal

Citation

The source of the data being reanalyzed may not legally need to be attributed if copyright does not apply (e.g. in the US), even if the data are included with the secondary publication, but for the reanalysis to stand up to scrutiny – and pass peer review – the source of the data must be cited