Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS) and British National Formulary (BNF)

Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS) and British National Formulary (BNF)

Use of CKS via the NICE website

In recent months, the owners (Agilio Software) of Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS - accessed via the NICE website) have been threatening universities and other organisations with legal action and demanding retrospective licence fees amounting to in excess of £30k for ‘commercial use’ of the database.  The CKS database is freely accessible on the web, but their new licence agreement and associated guidance stipulates that the database is intended for use by ‘individuals’ and ‘clinicians (working for the NHS)’ and not for systematic use by institutions. NICE have issued a statement (see below) in an attempt to clarify this End-User Licence.

It states that: Organisations including universities and schools are not able to reuse the topic content for their own benefit (for example as a textbook, for research, course content or curriculum) without a licence.

Please be aware of these restrictions and read the licence carefully before agreeing to it if you intend to use the CKS. 

CKS Statement

CKS is published on the NICE website under an End User Licence Agreement (EULA) and users must agree to the terms before accessing the site.  The EULA sets out a clear description of who can use the content and when those who are reusing and benefitting from the CKS content should request a separate licence.

NICE wants to ensure the popular CKS content is accessible to as many users as possible.  NICE has procured CKS for public sector clinical use, but some other users are also able to use it without charge.  The EULA clarifies how these users can use and reuse the content.  In the context of academia, the following guidance should be noted:

• UK based Students (along with any UK based individual) can use the content for personal and/or their own educational purposes only.  This includes overseas nationals who are on placement in the UK and working within an NHS organisation. While on clinical placements in the NHS, students have clinician access to CKS content.

• Information professionals (including those employed by NHS organisations or universities) can signpost CKS as a resource to legitimate individual or clinician users.

Organisations including universities and schools are not able to reuse the topic content for their own benefit (for example as a textbook, for research, course content or curriculum) without a licence.  To acquire such a licence, contact the content owner.

Use of BNF via the NICE website

Although the BNF is also freely available via the NICE website, its licensing terms clearly stipulate that workers or students studying at educational establishments are not permitted to use the service if their institution does not subscribe to a commercial licence (unlike the CKS which does permit individuals’ educational use).  The University does not currently hold such a licence and we therefore advise that use of the BNF is avoided until further notice.