My open access paper was accepted, and I can choose CC BY or CC BY-NC. Which should I pick?

If the price is the same, it comes down to your own preference. The difference between the two is NC, that is, non-commercial.

Some funders, such as Wellcome, the Gates Foundation and UK Research and Innovation, require a CC BY license, with limited exceptions, for the research papers they fund (as of 2026).

If you are uncomfortable with your paper being used commercially, choose CC BY-NC. If you think it is fine for others to use it commercially and create value, choose CC BY.

What counts as commercial use?

Suppose your paper happens to describe a company's new medical device with good results. If your hospital uses the first page of the article on a flyer advertising a self-pay service, that is commercial use. Or if the company holds a symposium and invites you to speak because the paper features its product, prints copies of the paper to hand out, and pays you a speaker's fee, these are all commercial uses.

Most people choose CC BY-NC. But after years of reading, I have come to believe that commercial activity is not so bad, and may be one of the keys to human prosperity. I lean toward not adding this restriction, and I choose CC BY.