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Bioicons is a free library of open-source icons for scientific illustrations, browsable at bioicons.com. Researchers use it to assemble figures, graphical abstracts and slides from ready-made SVG symbols such as lab apparatus, genomics elements and animals. The question that matters before publishing is the licence on each individual icon, because the library mixes several licences and the project says to cite each icon with its licence.
What is Bioicons?
The site describes itself as offering “high quality science illustrations”, and its GitHub README calls it “a free library of open source icons for scientific illustrations”. At the time of checking (8 November 2026) the site listed about 2,800 icons. The viewer was built by Simon Duerr, and the source repository is github.com/duerrsimon/bioicons. The site credits Tailwind, Vue.js, Nuxt and Inkscape as the tools behind it.
It is a library of vector symbols, not a figure-editing tool. You download an icon, then arrange and recolour it in a vector editor or presentation software. Tools that combine a library with a drawing canvas, such as BioRender, are covered in our BioRender guide.
Who runs it and what it covers
Bioicons is an independent open-source project, not a publisher or funder service. Icons are organised into categories (the site shows examples such as Animals, Genomics and Lab apparatus) and can also be browsed by licence or viewed all at once. Contributions come from the community: the site has a “Submit illustrations” page, and the README describes opening an issue that links the icon or submitting a pull request, with CC0 or MIT icons preferred.
How to find and download an icon
- Open bioicons.com and choose a category, or choose a licence from the licence filter, or view all icons.
- Browse the grid and click an icon to open it.
- Download the icon as an SVG file.
- Use the icon’s “Attribution?” link to see how it should be credited before you place it in a figure.
The site also offers a dark mode and links to a PDB2Vector tool and a browser-extensions page.
Licences and attribution
This is the part most guides skip. The site’s licence filter lists CC0, CC BY-SA and MIT first, and the library also contains icons under BSD, CC BY 3.0, CC BY 4.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 and CC BY-SA 4.0. The README gives two instructions that apply to every icon: “Please always cite the individual icons and their respective license”, and for CC BY icons, “you still need attribute and state the modifications made.” The README states no licence for the repository itself, so the licence that governs an icon is the one shown for that icon.
| Licence shown on the icon | What to record for your figure |
|---|---|
| CC0 | Note the icon name and source for your own records; the project still asks that individual icons be cited. |
| MIT | Note the icon name, author and licence; the MIT licence text itself requires its copyright notice to accompany copies, so check the icon’s page. |
| CC BY (3.0 or 4.0) | Attribute the creator and state any modifications you made, as the README instructs. |
| CC BY-SA (3.0 or 4.0) | Attribute and state modifications. The ShareAlike term also affects how adaptations may be licensed; read the Creative Commons licence text before reusing in a work that carries its own licence. |
The site gives no single crediting format, so follow the “Attribution?” information on each icon and the publisher’s own figure rules.
Using Bioicons in publication figures
Keep a simple provenance table while you build a figure: icon name, category, licence, author, download date and any change you made (recolouring, merging, cropping). That table gives you what the README asks for, and it can go into the figure caption or supplementary information, depending on the journal. See figure legend for how captions are normally structured, and graphical abstract for a common use of icon libraries. Whether a journal wants credits in the caption, an acknowledgements line or a separate file is the journal’s decision, so check its author instructions. General rights background is in the copyright entry.
Strengths and limits
- Strength: the site states that icons download as SVG, and the library is free to browse, with a licence filter that lets you restrict to permissive licences.
- Strength: contribution is open through GitHub and a submission page.
- Limit: licences differ icon by icon, so you cannot treat the library as a single licence.
- Limit: no single attribution format is provided, so the provenance record is yours to maintain.
- Limit: it supplies symbols only; layout and composition happen in other software.
Alternatives
Three free libraries publish their own terms. We read these pages on 8 November 2026; terms can change, so confirm on the source before reuse.
| Library | Run by | Size stated on its site | Terms stated on its site |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bioicons | Community project (Simon Duerr) | About 2,800 icons | Per-icon licences (CC0, MIT, CC BY, CC BY-SA and others); cite each icon and its licence |
| NIH BioArt Source | NIAID, NIH | “2,000+” visuals | Terms say content is free for any use including research and commercial; each entry has its own licence; a set credit line or citation format is given |
| Servier Medical Art | Les Laboratoires Servier | “More than 3,000” illustrations | CC BY 4.0 for every image; credit to the creator is required |
For a library with an in-browser drawing canvas, see BioRender.
FAQ
Is Bioicons free?
Yes. The site and README describe it as a free library, with each icon carrying its own open licence.
Do I need to credit Bioicons icons?
Often, yes. The README says to cite individual icons and their licences, and CC BY icons require attribution and a statement of modifications. CC0 and MIT icons have lighter conditions, but the project still asks for citation.
What file format do the icons use?
The site says clicking an icon downloads it as an SVG file.
Can I add my own icons?
Yes, through a GitHub pull request or issue, or the site’s “Submit illustrations” page. CC0 or MIT licences are preferred.
Sources
- Bioicons, bioicons.com, read 8 November 2026.
- Bioicons README, github.com/duerrsimon/bioicons, read 8 November 2026.
- NIH BioArt Source and its terms page, bioart.niaid.nih.gov, read 8 November 2026.
- Servier Medical Art, smart.servier.com, read 8 November 2026.
