Permission is granted for reuse of all graphics produced by the UCSC Genome Browser website. There is no need to contact us to get permission. If your publisher, notably Elsevier, insists on getting approval, please direct them to this webpage. However, when you use the UCSC Genome Browser in your work, please cite one of our publications.
As far as the UCSC Genome Browser group is concerned, the raw table data and binary files used to create the graphics by the browser is freely available for both public and commercial use. This applies to data that is downloaded as files via http, https, ftp or rsync, and equally when data is accessed through the public MySQL server or via the web API.
-Sometimes, the source databases or author place restrictions on the data. In very rare +
Sometimes, the source databases or authors place restrictions on the data. In very rare cases, the genomes come with citation requirements. The README.txt file in the -download directory of each assembly shows the use +download directory of each assembly shows the original restrictions pertaining to the genome -sequence itself by the original authors, most assemblies do not have any restrictions. +sequence itself by the original authors; most assemblies do not have any restrictions.
-As for genome annotation data, a handful of tracks, mostly on the human -genome and in the domain of clinical genetics, have specific restrictions, -usually the data has to be obtained from the source database directly in the -original format or licensed. Examples are HGMD, LOVD, OMIM, Decipher, +Certain genome annotation data, mostly on the human +genome and in the domain of clinical genetics, have specific restrictions. +Usually the data must be obtained from the source database directly in the +original format or licensed, rather from UCSC. Examples are HGMD, LOVD, OMIM, Decipher, Genomenom, Genehancer and COSMIC, as well as any GISAID-derived data on viral genomes. Please see the respective track documentation pages on these assemblies for more details, by selecting the assembly and clicking the track title in the genome browser.
When using applications from the Genome Browser tool suite, including LiftOver and BLAT, or data from the UCSC Genome Browser database in a research work that will be published in a journal or on the Internet, there is no need to get permission from us. When you use the UCSC Genome Browser in your work, please cite one of our publications.
Aside from publications, the Genome Browser binaries and source code are freely available for academic, nonprofit, and personal use. A license is required for commercial download and installation of most Genome Browser binaries and source code, with the exception of the items in the section "Software: Tools and directories freely available for all uses" below. BLAT and isPCR, if needed, are covered by a separate license (see below).
To purchase a commercial license for Genome Browser source code, LiftOver, GBiB, or GBiC, please visit the Genome Browser store.
If you would like to purchase more than 20 copies of the Genome Browser source code, please follow these instructions:
Genome Browser licensing questions should be directed to genome-www@soe.ucsc.edu. For information about commercial licensing of the Blat and In-Silico PCR tools, see the Kent Informatics website or contact kent@soe.ucsc.edu.
See the LICENSE file in the top level of our source code for a listing of licenses and directories that they apply to: https://github.com/ucscGenomeBrowser/kent/blob/master/LICENSE.
The following directories are available without a license for all uses, academic, non-profit, and commercial:
See the LICENSE file in the top level of our source code for a listing of licenses and directories that they apply to: https://github.com/ucscGenomeBrowser/kent/blob/master/LICENSE.
When you use the UCSC Genome Browser in your work, please cite one of our publications.
This software includes software made by open-source projects: