  This paper discusses the problem of lack of clear licensing and transparency
of usage terms and conditions for research metadata. Making research data
connected, discoverable and reusable are the key enablers of the new data
revolution in research. We discuss how the lack of transparency hinders
discovery of research data and make it disconnected from the publication and
other trusted research outcomes. In addition, we discuss the application of
Creative Commons licenses for research metadata, and provide some examples of
the applicability of this approach to internationally known data
infrastructures.

Computers and Society