Researchers are often unsure about open access copyright permissions for their journal article, preprint or thesis. What open access rights do you retain when signing the publisher agreement for a journal article? Are you permitted to self-archive in your institutional repository? Which Creative Commons licence to select for your preprint? Your choices affect what you and others can do with your work. This introduction deciphers the jargon and explains the pitfalls so you can understand your options and make informed decisions.

It covers: * open access copyright and licensing for authors of journal articles, preprints and theses; * initial ownership of copyright; * Copyright Transfer Agreements (CTA) and other journal publishing licences; * Creative Commons (CC) licences; * funder policies on licences and retaining copyright; * posting to repositories, preprint servers and academic platforms; * sharing and re-using work legally; * where to get help.

Intended Audience: Current Oxford postgraduate research students, researchers and academics, research support staff and librarians.