1. Disclaimer

The term (*)CORE data refers to a database created by indexing and processing information publicly available on the Internet. This database has been created for the purposes of machine processing, such as text and data mining, of scholarly information.

Where this database contains original works, such as full texts of research papers, in a machine readable form, every effort has been made to ensure that these works have been made available as open access. In sourcing this information, we rely on information provided by scholarly article and repository registries as well as information from the sources themselves to identify open access content. In collecting and curating the database, we had lawful access to all materials which were publicly available without circumventing any technical measures, including access control mechanisms or instructions such as those expressed in robots.txt files. However, as metadata are often inconsistent, licence information is often not machine-readable and, from time to time, repositories leak information that is not open access, CORE does not accept any responsibility or liability for the use of the database. The database is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis.

CORE does not claim ownership of any individual metadata record or underlying work received from third-party repositories. Rights, if any, in such materials remain with their original rightsholders.

It is therefore up to the user to ensure that the way in which they use CORE data does not breach the rights of third parties. The dataset is in no way intended for the purposes of reading the original publications, but for machine processing only. By accessing or using CORE data, you agree to comply with all applicable laws and regulations in your jurisdiction, including but not limited to copyright law, data protection law, and other relevant legal requirements. You must not use the dataset for any unlawful purpose, including, without limitation, infringement of copyright, violation of privacy rights, harassment, defamation, or any activity prohibited by applicable legislation in the jurisdiction in which you access or use the dataset. The licence also does not authorise reproduction, distribution, or other uses of the underlying works beyond what is permitted by law.

While CORE retains no copyright in any of the underlying works in the database, we reserve the sui generis database rights. Additionally unauthorised extraction, scraping, or acquisition of CORE data through channels not intended for its distribution constitutes a violation of CORE’s Terms of Use and is strictly prohibited. This is due to the substantial investment and costs in obtaining, processing, transforming and serving the data to the relevant communities of interest. Where CORE licenses CORE data, such licence applies only to the sui generis database rights and information created by CORE, such as CORE generated metadata, and does not convey or grant any rights in the underlying works contained within the database.

Update

CORE is currently reviewing its data-licensing framework. Future versions of CORE will distinguish between factual metadata, which will be made openly reusable under a suitable licence, such as CC0 or ODC-0, and expressive content (e.g. abstracts or full texts), which will be made available under conditional access for lawful text- and data-mining purposes.

2. ODC-By licenced datasets

• You can use these datasets for any commercial or non-commercial purposes in line with the ODC-By licence.
• You need to acknowledge the use of CORE as described.

3. Other datasets and the API

While you need to obtain a licence to use other CORE datasets as well as the CORE API, many of our users are eligible for a free licence.

However, you should contact us, irrespective of any potential free licence eligibility as described below, if you are developing or intending to develop a product, service or software using CORE data which:

• might be monetised now or in the future OR
• is expected to serve only a restricted group of beneficiaries (e.g. only your own organisation) OR
• is intended for the benefit of everyone but related to the functionality provided by one of CORE’s existing services, such as but not limited to an API, a recommender system, search, discovery system or analytical dashboard.

3.1 Free licence eligibility

If your use of CORE data does not fall under any of the categories mentioned in the above points 1-3 AND you are either an individual or a public research organisation, then you might be eligible for a free licence.

3.2 Individuals

If you are an individual, you can use CORE data freely if:

• You are conducting work in your own personal capacity AND
• You will acknowledge the use of CORE as described.

3.3 Public research organisations

If you are working for a public research organisation (e.g. a university):

You can use CORE data freely if:

• You are pursuing research on CORE data with the objective of producing a research paper or a publicly available report AND
• You will acknowledge the use of CORE as described.

If you are intending to use CORE as part of a research project(s) then, unless you are a Supporting or a Sustaining Member, you should contact us to obtain a licence. Depending on the circumstances, we will assess if you might be eligible for a free licence.

3.4 CORE Supporting and Sustaining members

Academic institutions who are CORE Supporting and Sustaining members receive automatically a free non-commercial licence to the CORE API for any internal purposes for all of their staff and students as part of CORE Membership. CORE Sustaining members receive automatically a free non-commercial licence to the CORE API for any internal purposes for all of their staff and students as part of CORE Membership.

3.5 Authorisation for use of your data

You authorise us to use the logo of your organisation and/or project on our website and to mention our support to you in public communication.

We reserve the right to withdraw our approval for use of CORE data at any time by giving you a 30-day notice.