Licensing
OghmaNano License
Copyright (c) 2009–2025 Roderick MacKenzie and contributors
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software (the “Software”), to use, reproduce, and distribute results generated with the Software in academic or industrial work, subject to the following conditions:
- Citation requirement. If you use OghmaNano in any published work (journal articles, theses, books, reports, presentations, etc.), you must cite at least three peer-reviewed publications associated with the model and the project website https://www.oghma-nano.com. The software will show you the correct papers to cite (see ??).
- Attribution. The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
- Disclaimer of warranty. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can I use OghmaNano at a company or university?
A: Yes, please do! You may use OghmaNano to run simulations and publish results in both industrial and academic settings under the terms above.
Q: Do I have to cite OghmaNano in published work?
A: Yes. In any publication or thesis that uses OghmaNano, you must cite at least three peer-reviewed papers associated with the model (see
??). In addition, you must include a reference to the project website (https://www.oghma-nano.com) so that readers and search engines can always find the latest version. By citing the papers you help justify continued development, and by citing the URL you make it easier for others to find the model and reproduce your work.
Q: Do I have to cite the software in internal reports such as MSc/BSc/BEng reports that will remain unpublished?
A: It is good practice to cite the software, but if the report will remain internal to the company/institution and not be publicly available, the citation requirement can be ignored.
Q: Do I need to cite OghmaNano when using it for teaching or student exercises?
A: For teaching demonstrations, classroom labs, or coursework not intended for publication, formal citation is not required. If students later publish their results in a thesis or paper, the normal citation rules apply.
Q: What if I use OghmaNano in a presentation or poster?
A: A simple acknowledgement such as "Simulations performed with OghmaNano" is sufficient in presentations, posters, or talks. Full references are only required in published written work.
Q: Do I need to update old work to meet these rules?
A: No. The citation requirement applies from the time you start using the current version of OghmaNano onward. You do not need to update old reports or papers.
Q: What if I have a special case where citation is impractical?
A: Please contact me via the OghmaNano forum. We are happy to discuss exceptions where appropriate.
Q: Should I cite the manual?
A: No. Please cite the research papers instead.
Q: Will our IT department accept this license?
A: The terms are MIT-style and permissive: free use in academia and industry, standard attribution, a clear warranty disclaimer, and a citation requirement.
Note: The citation requirement is included to ensure proper academic attribution and to demonstrate usage of OghmaNano. It is not meant to be a legal tripwire or to restrict genuine research and development. Our goal is to make the software as widely useful as possible while keeping its development sustainable.