How to Cite Creative Commons Images
Figure with Creative Commons Attribution
As a general rule, Creative Commons images are cited differently than your standard citation styles. However, check with your specific citation manual to make sure you do not need to use another format. Note: see special APA requirements below. Generally, you will format your citation:
"Smoked Egg Yolk with Roasted Onion" by Tavallai is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
Title: “Smoked Egg Yolk with Roasted Onion” - make sure you put the title of the image in quotation marks
Author: Tavallai - Make sure you hyperlink the author’s name to the authors page
Source: Smoked Egg Yolk with Roasted Onion – Hyperlink to original source
License: CC BY-ND 2.0
- APA Special Requirements for AttributionRules for using clip art and stock images in APA Style papers (including Creative Commons). Common sources for stock images and clip art are iStock, Getty Images, Adobe Stock, Shutterstock, Pixabay, and Flickr.
- Best Practices for AttributionUse this link to read about best practices on how to cite Creative Commons images. You can use CC-licensed materials as long as you follow the license conditions. One condition of all CC licenses is attribution.
- How to Find CC License VersionThis page identifies the principal improvements to the Creative Commons license suite since the publication of the first licenses (version 1.0) in December 2002, through the current version 4.0, published November 2013.
- Open Attribution BuilderThis is a tool to help you build attributions to cite openly distributed work, such as work licensed by Creative Commons or released in the public domain. As you fill out the form, the app automatically generates the attribution for you.