License Information

Use of Electronic Resources

The University of British Columbia licenses many electronic resources for its staff, faculty, and current students including indexes, databases, e-journals, and e-books. Access to these resources is governed by contractual agreements (license agreements) with resource providers. The agreements specify the groups of individuals who can access the electronic resources and place restrictions on the uses that can be made of the electronic resources. 

To look up the permitted uses for a particular journal, search for the journal on the Journals page. A "Permitted Uses" button will be shown beside each provider for that particular journal. Our license terms for a journal may vary depending on the provider.

When looking for the permitted uses for index (not full text) databases, keep in mind that the permissions are for the content in that database only, that is, the indexes and abstracts. If there is a UBC E-Link button that links to the full text of an article, that article is found in a different resource and is thus subject to a different license and has different permitted uses. If you need assistance or have questions or concerns please contact us here.

What can I do with electronic resources?

Please remember that violations of our license terms by anyone can result in the loss of access to that resource for the entire university community. To discover what you can do with a particular resource, check the permitted uses for that resource on the Journals page or in the license database.

What am I NOT allowed to do with electronic resources?

GENERAL RESTRICTIONS

You may not, under any circumstance, do any of the following:

1. Use any part of the electronic resource for a commercial purpose.
2. Use software such as webcrawlers or other automated means to systematically make copies of extracts of the electronic resource for any purpose.
3. Mount, post, upload or input any part of a licensed electronic resource on third party Artificial Intelligence platforms, such as ChatGPT.
4. Mount, post or distribute any part of the electronic resource on unsecured electronic networks, such as electronic bulletin boards, news groups and web sites. For clarification, posting to e-reserves or to a learning management system (e.g. Connect, Vista, MEDICOL) may be allowed by the license. Check specific license permissions for further information.
5. Obscure or alter any copyright or other notices appearing in the electronic resource
6. Publish, distribute or make available any portion of the electronic resource except as detailed in the specific license permissions or as permitted by the Fair Dealing provisions of the Canadian Copyright Act.