“Social Licence to Operate” is a metaphor referring to the extent of approval or acceptability that a project, organization, or activity has with its host communities. This is generally considered in terms of legitimacy, credibility, and trust. Sometimes the term is extended beyond local communities to apply to all stake holders, including national and international NGOs. The expression came into use in the late 1990s, and became popular in industry and academic circles from about 2010 on. Although Jim Cooney is often given credit for inventing this term, it was actually first used by W.H. Moore in 1996. Nevertheless, Jim Cooney did popularize the concept. Some early publications are given immediately below. With over 1400 papers in Scopus, it is hard to select the key citations, but the list below favors Open Access papers, and ones that link to impact assessment.