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A 2024 report identified thousands of papers whose stated article licences may not match the permissions for figures made with BioRender. The figures have not been shown to be unlawful as a group: each case can depend on the BioRender plan and publication licence in effect when the figure was exported, the figure’s contents, the article’s licence, and journal policy.
What the reported paper counts do—and do not—show
In an article published on 28 October 2024, Chemistry World reported that computational enzymologist Simon Dürr had identified 9,277 papers published under a CC BY licence that used figures created with BioRender. Dürr gave a broader count of 12,059 when including papers with other licences he considered to restrict commercial use or impose similar conditions. These are attributed counts, not an independently replicated census or a legal audit of every figure and paper. The sources provide no denominator from which to calculate a prevalence rate.
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The concern is about a possible mismatch: an article may carry an open licence while an embedded figure contains library material subject to separate terms. That possibility does not establish that every flagged paper violates copyright or its licence. The facts and applicable terms need to be checked for each figure.
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Chemistry World’s report quoted Dürr saying, “CC-BY allows anyone to reproduce a work for any purpose if attributed correctly.” That describes his concern about the apparent mismatch; it does not settle what rights apply to every component of a particular image.
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Why a paper’s licence may not answer the figure question
A journal article’s open licence and the terms governing material used to make an illustration can be separate layers. BioRender says users own their completed Science Figures and User Content, subject to BioRender’s continuing rights in its own content, such as library icons and templates. A user’s rights in an assembled figure therefore do not, by themselves, establish that every included asset can be reused under the article’s licence.
BioRender’s representative told Chemistry World: “We do not claim ownership of completed figures on the platform, simply that we are looking to maintain our rights to our library icons and templates.” The distinction is between the assembled figure and the underlying content supplied by the service—not a blanket conclusion about the legal status of any paper.
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Other components can have their own terms as well. A photograph, dataset, text excerpt, or externally sourced illustration may require separate permission or attribution. A BioRender citation does not automatically clear those rights.
BioRender publication permissions depend on plan and timing
BioRender’s terms and help pages describe permissions that vary by account plan and use. The individual terms currently published apply to accounts created on or after 16 January 2026; they should not be assumed to describe the terms governing figures made or exported earlier. For a past publication, check the terms and account status that applied at the time.
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| Plan or use | What BioRender’s current materials say |
|---|---|
| Free or Basic; free trial | BioRender’s terms say free users may not publish figures containing BioRender Content. Its licensing overview says Basic and free-trial plans do not provide journal publication rights. Check the applicable terms and plan at export. Individual Terms of Service; licensing overview. |
| Undergraduate plan | BioRender’s licensing overview says this plan does not provide journal publication rights. Consult the current plan terms for other permitted uses. Licensing and usage of figures made in BioRender. |
| Academic plan | BioRender’s terms describe academic and not-for-profit publication uses, subject to applicable guidelines. Publication rights and requirements depend on the plan and intended use. Individual Terms of Service; publication rights. |
| Industry plan | BioRender’s terms include commercial uses, subject to applicable guidelines. Confirm that the account plan and figure licence cover the specific publication. Individual Terms of Service; publication rights. |
BioRender’s help centre says eligible premium-plan exports can include a publication licence. Its journal-publishing guide describes choosing open-access or closed-access publication during export, generating a citation and licence, and keeping the licence for records. Those are BioRender’s current descriptions, not a ruling about older exports or legal advice. See BioRender’s journal publishing guide.
The terms also restrict using BioRender Content outside the application in a way that extracts or redistributes it as standalone material. Permission to publish a completed figure should not be treated as permission to reuse its component icons or templates separately. See BioRender’s individual terms.
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How authors and editors can check a specific figure
- Identify what is in the figure. Record whether it uses BioRender library content and whether it also includes photographs, text, data, or assets from other sources.
- Check the account and date. Establish the plan used and the date the figure was exported. Retrieve the applicable terms rather than relying only on BioRender’s current plan descriptions.
- Find the figure’s publication licence. For an eligible export, locate the BioRender publication licence and citation generated for the intended use. Confirm whether it covers open-access or closed-access publication and retain the record.
- Compare it with the article and journal requirements. Check the article’s stated licence and the journal’s policy for figures and separately licensed content. Do not assume the article-wide licence automatically applies to every embedded asset.
- Resolve missing or conflicting information. Ask the journal or publisher and the relevant rights holder what permission, attribution, or correction is required. Avoid treating an unclear record as proof either that reuse was allowed or that infringement occurred.
BioRender’s publication-rights guidance, journal export guide, and licensing overview explain its current workflow. They do not replace checking the terms applicable to a particular figure or the rights in third-party components.
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Chemistry World reported in October 2024 that most publishers it approached had yet to act at that time. It also reported that eLife had introduced a policy to mark a BioRender image with a licence different from the rest of the paper. That account is time-bound; it does not establish the current policy or status of every publisher, journal, or flagged paper.
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The report also quoted neuroscientist Adam Claridge-Chang of Duke-NUS Medical School as saying there was “enough doubt” about copyright issues to lead him to commission local artists for complicated figures and draw simpler ones himself. The report said that commissioning could give him copyright in those figures. This is one approach, not a universal guarantee: commissioned work still needs clear rights arrangements.
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