Licensing Overview

All user-generated and editorially curated content on Aevum Encyclopedia is freely available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license, unless explicitly stated otherwise. This means you are free to share and adapt the material for any purpose, even commercially, as long as you provide appropriate credit and distribute your contributions under the identical license.

Important: While textual and structural content is open-licensed, multimedia assets (photographs, diagrams, audio recordings) may carry individual licenses specified by their creators. Always verify asset-level licensing before commercial redistribution.

Core Principles

  • 🌐 Open Access: No paywalls for educational or personal use.
  • 🔄 Viral Attribution: Derivative works must retain CC BY-SA 4.0 terms.
  • 🛡️ No Endorsement: Use of Aevum content does not imply official sponsorship.
  • 📜 Academic Integrity: All claims remain traceable to primary sources.

Licensing Tiers

Open Knowledge

CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Free for personal & academic use
  • Allow commercial adaptations
  • Requires attribution & share-alike
  • Includes API access (1,000 req/day)
  • No warranty or liability

Enterprise & Redistribution

Commercial License
  • High-volume API access
  • White-label data exports
  • SLA & dedicated support
  • Custom attribution formats
  • License agreement required

Media & Assets

CC0 / CC BY 4.0
  • Diagrams & infographics: CC BY 4.0
  • Public domain images: CC0
  • Third-party photos: Licensed separately
  • Audio/Video: Checked per entry
  • Always verify asset metadata

Usage Guidelines

✅ Permitted Uses

  • Academic research & citation
  • Educational course materials
  • Commercial publications & media
  • Software & AI training datasets
  • Translations & derivative works
  • Printing & offline distribution

⚠️ Restricted / Requires Permission

  • Removing attribution or license notices
  • Claiming exclusive ownership of content
  • Implying Aevum endorsement or partnership
  • Using content for illegal/malicious purposes
  • Enterprise data scraping (>10k req/day)
  • Redistributing under restrictive licenses

Attribution Requirements

When reusing Aevum Encyclopedia content, you must provide clear attribution in the following format:

Title of Entry, Aevum Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://aevum-encyclopedia.org/article/[slug]\n Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 | © [Year] Aevum Encyclopedia Contributors

For API responses and programmatic usage, include the following header in your application's footer or legal section:

Content provided by Aevum Encyclopedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Links must point to the specific article URL. If the entry has changed significantly since your retrieval, indicate the access date or revision ID.

API & Developer Terms

The Aevum REST & GraphQL APIs are governed by the same open licensing terms for data content. However, rate limits and commercial usage thresholds apply:

  • 🔑 Free Tier: 1,000 requests/day, 10 req/sec. Attribution required.
  • 🚀 Pro Tier: 25,000 requests/day, 50 req/sec. Includes SLA & analytics.
  • 🏢 Enterprise: Unlimited access, custom licensing, dedicated infrastructure.

AI/ML training usage is permitted under the free tier, but commercial model deployment using Aevum data requires a Commercial License or explicit opt-in from contributors.

View API Documentation →

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. CC BY-SA 4.0 explicitly permits commercial use. You must provide proper attribution and license your derivative work under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 terms.

No. All CC BY-SA content is immediately available without registration. API access requires a free developer key for rate limiting purposes.

Use the "Report Licensing Issue" flag on any entry. Our editorial team reviews and resolves licensing metadata discrepancies within 48 hours.

No. The ShareAlike (SA) clause requires derivatives to maintain the CC BY-SA 4.0 license. Mixing with GPL/MIT requires explicit compatibility statements and may restrict distribution.

All contributors retain copyright over their original submissions while granting Aevum and downstream users a perpetual, irrevocable CC BY-SA 4.0 license. Contributor attribution is preserved in version history and metadata.