From the Digital Curation Centre:
Many readers will be familiar with Creative Commons, its ethos and the suite of licences it provides. An organisation they may be less familiar with is Science Commons.
Science Commons is a branch of Creative Commons that aims to make the Web work for science the way that it currently works for culture. It is a non-profit organisation aimed at accelerating the research cycle which they define as “the continuous production and reuse of knowledge that is at the heart of the scientific method.” Science Commons describes itself as having three interlocking initiatives: making scientific research ‘reuseful’; enabling ‘one-click’ access to research materials; and integrating fragmented information sources. Its work is of relevance to anyone within the scientific cycle looking to reduce legal and technical barriers to research and discovery.