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Open Access & Institutional Repository: REF 2029 & open access

 

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the UK’s system for assessing the excellence of research in UK higher education providers. The next Ref will be REF 2029. The last REF was REF2021.

REF2021 policy stated that, to be eligible for submission, authors’ final peer-reviewed manuscripts (journal articles and conference proceedings) must have been deposited in an institutional or subject repository on acceptance for publication. This policy applied to research outputs accepted for publication after 1 April 2016, and will apply until January 2026 when a new policy will take its place

REF 2029

  • UKRI open access compliant publications will be considered to meet the REF 2029 open access requirements without additional action from the author and/or institution.
  • Until new policies come into force in January 2026, the REF 2021 open access policies applies for in scope journal articles and conference papers with ISSNs to achieve this: 
    • Create a basic record in PURE at the point your journal article is accepted (this has to be done within 3 months of acceptance unless an exception applies)
    • Include your DOI if known.
    • Upload your Accepted Manuscript (AM) or send a copy of the AM with a link to your PURE record to eprints@soton.ac.uk
    • Contact the Open Research & Publication Practice Team at eprints@soton.ac.uk if you have any questions

For more information please see the University of Southampton REF 2029 Sharepoint.

 

REF 2029 Open Access Consultation

The four UK higher education funding bodies ran a consultation concerning the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2029 Open Access Policy. The consultation was open 18/03/24 - 17/05/24 and responses were invited from any organisation, group or individual with an interest in research or scholarly publishing. This consultation outlines the proposed policy for REF 2029: REF 2029 Open Access Consultation

Results and outcomes are expected in Autumn 2024

In August 2024 an early decision was made that books, book chapters and monographs will not be subject to an open access policy in this REF cycle.

Journal Article VersionsDiagram showing that the submitted and accepted manuscript versions of an article are author owned, and the proof and final version of record are publisher owned

Created by the Office of Scholarly Communication, Cambridge University Libraries, available under a CC BY licence 

For help or advice with any Open Access or institutional repository (ePrints Soton) query:

email eprints@soton.ac.uk