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Open Access

Research England Open Access Policy for REF 2021

The policy requires that, in order to be eligible for Research Excellence Framework 2021 (REF) journal articles and conference proceedings with an ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) accepted for publication after 1 April 2016 must be made Open Access either by depositing full-text papers into an online repository or by publishing in an Open Access journal/ platform. Even if an output has been published Open Access, it it still highly recommended that the article be deposited in a repository as well. You can find out more details about the policy here.

Outputs must be deposited in an institutional repository, such as UDORA, at the point of acceptance for publication and no later than three months from this date. Alternatively, outputs can be deposited in a subject based repository. ResearchGate and other academic social networking sites do not count as repositories and will not be considered as such by Research England. 

The Policy Criteria

  • The policy refers to journal articles and conference proceedings with an ISSN.
  • This came into effect for outputs accepted for publication after 1st April 2016.
  • Deposit must be of the author's accepted and final peer reviewed manuscript. 
  • As of 1st April 2018 qualifying outputs must have a record and accompanying manuscript in a repository within 3 months of acceptance, i.e. the date when the publisher notifies the author.
  • The author's accepted and final peer reviewed version of the paper must be made accessible within 1 month after deposit or after the end of the publisher embargo period (if applicable). The maximum embargo periods are 12 months for REF Panels A and B, and 24 months for REF Panels C and D.
  • Qualifying research outputs that do not comply will not be eligible for REF submission.

Exceptions

Occasionally, it will not be possible for an output to fulfil the criteria. An exception is permitted in the following cases:

  1. You were not employed by a UK HEI at the point of acceptance.
  2. You did not have use of a repository at the time of acceptance.
  3. You experienced a delay securing the final peer-reviewed text (e.g. for multi-authored papers).
  4. It would be unlawful, or present a security risk, to deposit the output.
  5.  The output depends on third party content for which open access rights could not be granted.
  6. The publication concerned required an embargo period that exceeds the stated maxima, and was the most appropriate output. You will need to provide a short statement explaining this choice. 
  7. The publication concerned actively disallows open access deposit, and was the most appropriate output. You will need to provide a short statement explaining this choice. 
  8. At acceptance, you were at a different UK HEI and it has not been possible to determine compliance. 
  9. A short-term technical failure with the repository prevented compliance.
  10. A external service provider failure prevented compliance (e.g. a subject repository ceased to operate). 

Further exceptions:

  • The ‘Other exception’ which should be used where an output is unable to meet the criteria due to circumstances beyond the control of the HEI, such as periods of extended leave due to sickness. 
  • The output was not deposited three months from the date of acceptance (post 1 April 2018) but was deposited three months from the date of first online publication.  In this instance, the exception can be applied as many times as necessary as long as the output meets all other requirements. 

You can more details about criteria for exceptions in the REF 2021 Guidance on Submissions in paragraphs 252 - 255.

How to comply

To comply with the Research England policy; upon receiving notification of acceptance from your publisher, the eligible research output should have a record entered into a repository, such as UDORA, with the full-text uploaded. To comply using UDORA:

  1. Log in to the University of Derby Research System https://research.derby.ac.uk/ 
  2. Under 'My Record' select 'My Research Outputs' and then 'Add output'.
  3. Check journal permissions using information provided by Sherpa/Romeo which is the REF recommended tool
  4. Create a comprehensive record, completing all fields: Authors, Affiliation, Date, Title, Keywords
  5. 'Add document' and upload the final peer-reviewed version of your paper, entering an embargo period if required by the publisher.
  6. Add a Creative Commons License, if permitted and desired. 
  7. Save and 'Deposit item'. 

Guidance on Revisions to REF2021 and the Open Access requirements as a result of COVID-19

In response to the global Coronavirus pandemic, Research England have released updated guidance on outputs and their Open Access status. Where an in scope output has not been made Open Access due to effects brought about by the Covid-19 outbreak, HEIs may apply the ‘other exception’. The guidance states that this exception may apply to individual circumstances (such as ill health, caring responsibilities); other personal circumstances related to COVID-19, such as furloughed staff, health-related or clinical staff diverted to frontline services, staff resource diverted to other priority areas within the HEI  and/or external factors related to COVID-19. Please see the guidance document for further information and clarification. 

 

Research England Open Access Policy for REF2029

The REF 2029 Open Access policy was published on 11th December 2024 and is available at the following link: https://2029.ref.ac.uk/guidance/ref-2029-open-access-policy/

The policy aligns with wider attitudes and approaches to Open Access, including:

  • UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Open Access Policy for journal articles and conference proceedings which has been in operation since 01 April 2022.
  • Wide-spread international support for increased open access publication of research, promoted by organisations such as Coalition S.
  • Funding conditions of charitable and other research funders, both within the UK and internationally.

Scope of the Policy

  • In-Scope Outputs: Journal articles and conference contributions with an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) published between January 1, 2021, and December 31, 2028.

  • Out-of-Scope Outputs: Longform outputs (e.g., monographs, book chapters, edited collections. scholarly editions) are not subject to the OA requirements for REF 2029. However, the funding bodies encourage making these outputs open access where possible & appropriate. This is in recognition of the ongoing challenges relating to OA and longform output types. However, this will be introduced for the next assessment, with implementation beginning on January 1, 2029.

Implementation Timeline

  • Until December 31, 2025: The REF 2021 OA policy requirements continue to apply to in-scope outputs.

  • From January 1, 2026: Revised OA policy requirements come into effect for all in-scope outputs.

Key Requirements (Effective January 1, 2026)

  1. Deposit:

    • Outputs shared through institutional repositories ("Green" OA) should be deposited upon publication, rather than upon acceptance as previously required. However. earlier deposits are accepted and supported as this is established practice at the University of Derby. 

  2. Licensing:

    • Outputs should be licensed as openly as possible, with a strong preference for Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licenses. Licenses such as CC BY-NC or CC BY-ND (including CC BY-NC-ND) are also permitted. Under the institutions Rights Retention (RR) policy, all in scope outputs are assigned a CC-BY license. Find out more about RR here. 

  3. Embargo Periods:

    • For outputs submitted to Main Panels A and B: Maximum embargo of 6 months.
    • For outputs submitted to Main Panels C and D: Maximum embargo of 12 months.

      Tolerate embargo periods have decreased from the REF 2021 policy requirements. The institutions RR principles allow authors get around embargo periods for in scope outputs.

Exceptions to the Policy - a short statement explaining the use of an exception may be required

  • Deposit Exceptions:

    • Unlawfulness of deposit.
    • Publication disallows OA deposit, and it was the most appropriate venue 
    • Delays in obtaining the final peer-reviewed text.

  • Access Exceptions:

    • Required embargo period exceeds policy maxima, and the publication was the most appropriate venue.
    • Inclusion of third-party content without obtainable licenses at reasonable cost.

  • Technical Exceptions:

    • Output connected to the institution but published post-employment, with compliance verification issues.
    • Authored entirely by ineligible staff for REF 2029 volume measure.

  • Other Exceptions:

    • Circumstances beyond the institution's control (e.g., personal author circumstances, industrial action, software issues) preventing compliance.

       

For detailed guidance, refer to the official REF 2029 Open Access Policy document.

 

The REF ran a consultation on proposals for their 2029 Open Access Policy from 18 March to 17 June 2024. This included changes to the REF 2021 Open Access Policy on deposit requirements, embargo periods and licensing for journal publications and also included the proposed introduction of an OA mandate for longform outputs, a direction of travel that has been signalled by many of the funding bodies since 2016. The University of Derby contributed to this consultation based on feedback including that provided at a dedicated workshop on Thursday the 2nd of May 2024.