REF - test

The REF (Research Excellence Framework) assesses how public funding for research is allocated in the UK.

As part of this assessment, journal articles and conference proceedings must be made open access to be eligible.

The University submits to the REF every 6–7 years, the next submission will be in 2029.

On 1 January 2026, new open access requirements for journal articles and conference proceedings will come into effect.

Being REF compliant: 2021–2025

For the current period please use the following requirements for relevant research outputs:

An author-accepted manuscript should be deposited to ORA via Symplectic Elements

  • Within 3 months of acceptance
  • Made open access within:
    • 12 months of publication (STEM)
    • 24 months of publication (HUMSS)
 

Deposit your work into ORA 

How the REF open access requirements are changing

While all outputs’ metadata should be registered in Symplectic Elements to be considered for the REF, journal articles and conference papers must also fulfil open access requirements to be considered.

2021 policy 2029 policy
Final peer-reviewed version of journal articles and conference papers (in publications with an ISSN). Final peer-reviewed version of journal articles and conference papers (in publications with an ISSN).

Accepted on or after 01/04/2016.

 Published between 01/01/2026-31/12/28
Deposit within three months of acceptance for publication. Deposit within three months of publication.
Immediate OA (‘gold’ or ‘diamond’) via the publisher
AND/OR 
Deposit (‘green’) OA via a repository.		 Immediate OA (‘gold’ or ‘diamond’) via the publisher
AND/OR 
Deposit (‘green’) OA via a repository.
Embargo allowance:
12 months (Main Panels A&B)
24 months (Main Panels C&D).		 Embargo allowance:
6 months (Main Panels A&B)
12 months (Main Panels C&D).
No licence specified or required but 'suggested' CC licences. Must be made open access under a Creative Commons (or similar) licence, with a preference for CC BY.

 

Keeping up to date with the changes

Further information and FAQ

Although you may submit your accepted manuscript to ORA to fulfil open access requirements for the REF, the published version of record will be the version used by REF during the assessment. 

UKRI compliant? You're good to go.

The following is in UKRI's official FAQ (checked 06/03/25):

The four UK higher education funding bodies (Research England, Scottish Funding Council, Medr: the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research and Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland) consider a UKRI open access compliant publication to meet the REF policy without additional action from the author or institution.

If you are compliant with the UKRI funder's policy, you will be able to submit your outputs to the REF with no further action.

Other funders

There is much similarity between UKRI policies and those of others, such as Wellcome. It is likely that if you are compliant with these funders you will need to take no further action to ensure REF compliance, but it is crucial that you assess the funder policy vs REF requirements to ensure this.

Monographs are not an output with open access requirements for either the current nor the 2029 REF.

When the initial REF 2029 requirements were released for consultation, the policy did include monographs, but this inclusion was removed.

Research England have stated:

An open access requirement for submission of longform outputs will be in place for the next assessment exercise, with implementation from 1 January 2029.