Creative Commons is a license system, made mainly for the internet. This system makes it easier for others to use the material you made, such as images. If you want to use an image with a Creative Commons license, you do not need to contact the creator because the license clearly states the rights and restrictions that apply.

A Creative Commons license can only be used on copyrighted material, and one of the basic requirements is that you always have to acknowledge the creator.

For more information: creativecommons.org

Images available online and in course literature are generally covered by copyright, which means you may not use or distribute them without permission from the creator. The copyright is enforced automatically as soon as a work is created, and is valid for 70 years after the creator's death.

Copyright consists of two parts, the non-profit rights and economic rights. The non-profit rights mean that the creator has the right to be named in connection with the work used / distributed. The economic right requires that the creator has the right to authorize or prohibit any form of copying or distribution of the work. The economic rights can be transferred, usually by means of licenses, while the non-profit rights can never fully be transferable.

Read more about copyright here:

• The Swedish government on copyright

The basic rule is that you always have to have permission from the creator if you wish to use or distribute an image. Sometimes it can be difficult to know who owns the copyright to the image.

In the case of images that appear in scientific journals, it’s often the publisher who owns the economic rights, while the creator may still have the non-profit right. If you are unsure, you should contact both the publisher and the creator with your request.

When you contact the creator to ask for permission, you should inform about the context in which the image is to be used, and by whom. Save an e-mail as evidence. If you cannot get hold of the owner of the copyright, you cannot legally use the image.

The creator can often give permission for how the image is being used and disseminated to some extent, for example in non-commercial contexts. Did you get permission to use an image in a specific context, you must generally always state the source.

There is no exact standard for how the source must be stated, according to the Copyright Act (1960:729) the originator should be named to the extent and in the manner morality requires. What is good practice depends on how and when the image is used. The best thing is to look at how the creator is usually named in similar contexts.

The Library has several databases of medical images that you as a student may use in different ways. Some examples are the databases AnatomyTV and imagesMD, which you can access through our database list.

Databases have different licenses that tell to what extent the images may be used. You should always read the conditions for the particular database you found the image in. It usually states what you may and may not do with the images, and how to enter the source of images. If you don’t find this information in the database, please ask us.

There is no exact standard for how the source to images with free license shall be stated, except that the creator's name always must be specified. For materials with a Creative Commons license it is recommended to specify the name and link to the image, name of the creator and link to his/her user name, license and link to the license.

Here you will find examples of how a reference to a Creative Commons image might look like.

Usually, images are copyrighted and may not be used without having the creator's permission. But there are exceptions. Some image collections use licenses that accept usage without the creator's permission. Licenses can be designed in various ways. Sometimes you are not allowed to use images for commercial purposes, nor processed. But there are also licenses that accept usage in any way you want, as long as you determine who the creator is. It is important to check the license terms, and follow them. Generally, the image creator should always be named.

Here are some examples of image collections where you can find images that may be used in educational contexts:

• CC-search
• Wikimedia commons
• Flickr
• Google advanced image search
• CDC Public Health Image Library
• Centre for Bioscience ImageBank
• AnatomyTV
• imagesMD

This and other templates you can find on KIs intranet, under "Grafisk profil" PowerPointmallar för Karolinska Institutet (not yet in english). In order to access it you have to be contected to KI network.

When you write a scientific paper you collect information from different sources and bring them together with your own results and conclusions. This is how new knowledge is developed.

All information from other sources has to be marked with a reference. Making someone else's opinion look like your own is plagiarism.

KIs information about cheating:

• Cheating

National Library of Medicine (NLM) has a tutorial about criticism of health information on the Internet.

• A tutorial from the Library of Medicine

In KIB-labb we can help you with the search process, references and critical evaluation of sources.

KIB-labb is open Monday-Friday between 11-16 pm in both Huddinge and Solna on drop in basis. Read more about KIB-labb.

• Instructions to Authors in the Health Sciences [Raymon H. Mulford Library, Medical College of Ohio]
• Health Services Research/Public Health Journals [Health Sciences Library, University of Washington]
• Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals [International Committee of Medical Journal Editors]
• Citation Guides for Electronic Document [International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions [IFLA]
• Bibliographic references [Luleå University of Technology]
• Information om impaktfaktorer [Thomson Scientific/ISI]

Here are som guides for writing references:

• Resources for Documenting Electronic Sources
• Style Sheets for Citing Internet & Electronic Resources
• Construction of NLM Title Abbreviations
• Interpreting Citations Tutorial
• Internet formats - NLM

The book Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association can be borrowed from KIB.

APA Publication Manual is not available free of charge on the Internet, but the following resources may be of help:

• Basics of APA Style Tutorials
• APA Style FAQ
• APA Style Blog

All statements, opinions, conclusions etc. taken from another writer's work should be cited, whether the work is directly quoted, paraphrased or summarised. In the Harvard System cited publications are referred to in the text by giving the author's surname and the year of publication in one of the forms shown below.

• Citing references: The Harvard System - Bournemouth University

ICMJE (Vancouver Style) stands for International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Read their guidelines "Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals".

• ICMJE (Vancouver style)
• Examples of references
• Examples of medical references

Interpreting Citations Tutorial

Interpreting Citations Tutorial is a web-based mini tutorial on how to write and interpret a citation based on an article. Produced by Thomas Jefferson Library, University of Missouri - St Louis.

Bibliografiska referenser - Luleå tekniska universitet

There are many styles and standards how to document the bibliographic references. These examples are "standardized" and do not follow the Swedish standard wholly. You can use them as a basis to style your references as needed. Many branches as well as journals and magazines use their own styles.

• Bibliographic references