Open Access FAQs

As with REF 2021 the funding bodies do not seek to limit author choice in publication venues chosen.  

We recognise that for reasons of disciplinary practice, specialism of publication, publication standing, focus, or for other legitimate reasons, authors may identify a particular publication or publishers as the most appropriate.  

The submitting institution can determine whether to apply the exception, in consultation with the authors. 

Appropriate use of exceptions will not be penalised.  

The pre-January 2026 aspects of policy (that is, the exceptions cited) for the purposes of the policy requirement for REF 2029 “attributed” relates to all members of staff who provide an institution’s demonstrable and substantive connection with the output.  
 
These exceptions were included as carried forward from REF 2021.  

This will be subject to the full audit policy and guidance to be published in 2026. 

For open access, audit processes will broadly mirror the risk-based approach for REF 2021, subject to further review and potential adjustments.   

It is for institutions to determine in dialogue with the output’s author(s) whether a publication venue is the most appropriate.  

Audit and submission guidance is yet to be produced for REF 2029 and so it is not possible at this stage to confirm evidential requirements.  

If the output is made available as open access through a repository meeting all policy requirements it will be compliant.

While the policy cites embargoed outputs shared through repository, this clause covers all outputs shared through repository including those where no embargo is required.  

In all cases there are common maximum periods, including deposit three months from the date of publication and access availability from the end of the embargo period.  

We will make this clear through amendments to the policy wording.   

We are not able to answer on behalf of Jisc, however from discussions we understand that they are aware of this and other relevant issues. As a membership funded body, institutions are able to make clear their areas of priority for the upcoming negotiations. 

We maintain engagement with relevant bodies such as funders and sector representatives which gives some insight into publisher practice. However, this isn’t and will never be 100% nor would it be our place to do so.  

It is ultimately for institutions and authors to choose appropriate publication venues in respect of the open access requirements of this policy.   

Jisc runs Open Policy Finder (OPF), and while we can influence, we can’t determine their approach, however they have a strong track record in keeping sources of information such as OPF up to date and relevant.  

8.2.2. can be applied in these circumstances. Alternatively, the “Other” exception could be used if the expectation was that publication would be before 31 December 2025, but publisher delays meant that publication was in 2026 or later. 

The standard provided for (CC-BY-NC-ND) is representative of a standard of openness rather than a specific licensing requirement. Authors/institutions are able to apply any suitable license meeting this level of openness at minimum. 

For guidance on the standards this represents please see this information on the Creative Commons website.

CC-0, CC-BY, CC-BY-NC, CC-BY-ND and CC-BY-NC-ND licenses, and their equivalents meet the policy requirements. “Share Alike (SA)” variants of the licenses do not meet the policy requirements. 

There is no requirement specifically for a CC license – the requirement specified is that all deposited outputs to have a standard of openness at minimum the equivalent to CC-BY-NC-ND. Further detail on license requirements will be published in due course.

Yes, books and book chapters are accepted as outputs for submission, there are no open access requirements for these for REF 2029.  

The open access requirements for output eligibility in REF 2029 can be met via a number of different routes which have varying costs. This includes being able to meet these requirements at no cost 

While personal circumstances are within the exceptions cited, this is not the exclusive focus for these exceptions.  

The “Other” exception covers a range of circumstances beyond the control of the institution, preventing compliance. For any outputs where this exception is applied there is an effective waiver of open access requirements.  
 
The audit guidance notes that a use of this exception as a high proportion of all exceptions may be a trigger for audit as this may be indicative of underlying issues or an institutional strategy on applying exceptions.  

Any audit triggered will seek to assess the appropriateness of the use of the exception (relative to the circumstances) and the extent to which it has been used, rather than assess the circumstances themselves. 

This exception operated successfully for REF 2021, remains in place up to the end of 2025, and is replicated in full for the period from January 2026 onwards.  

Using a risk-based approach in REF 2021, 10 institutions were selected for second stage audit, resulting in four data adjustments, three were selected for substantive sampling and only one output (out of more than 185,000) was adjusted.  

The funding bodies encourage as much openness as possible in all outputs submitted, and in institutional practice more broadly, however there are no open access requirements for REF purposes beyond the requirements of the open access policy. 

Open research practise is likely to be an area of interest for the People, Culture and Environment (PCE) element of the REF.  

The funding bodies expect that issues across the transition period will apply to a relatively small number of outputs.  

One possible example would be an article submitted with an embargo period longer than allowed for under the rules from January 2026 onwards, in the expectation that it would be published by 31 December 2025. Where there are delays in publication beyond this date, this would create a technical non-compliance.  

The funding bodies consider that this would fall under an exception as being outside the control of the institution and would recommend use of the “Other” exception.  

This has been included as carried forward from REF 2021. However, decisions are still to be taken on portability within REF 2029, and this should not be taken at this stage as indicative of a decision on portability. 

This is outlined in paragraph 4.0.2. of the Open Access policy.

Paragraph 5.2.3. applies to any output that has been published through an immediate open access route as a result of a funders’ requirements (for example, the UKRI open access policy).  

In these circumstances if the output is compliant with the funders’ requirements, then no further steps are required to be eligible for submission to REF 2029. 

If the author/institution is pursuing an immediate OA route for the output that is sufficient for REF eligibility we wouldn’t consider an output ineligible if a publisher failed to make it available on time.  

Only journal articles and conference proceedings are within the scope of the REF 2029 Open Access Policy. There is no open access requirement for software in REF 2029. Institutions are encouraged to make software available as openly as possible using any appropriate licensing 

Supplementary information and data are not part of the open access requirements. 

Tolerance is applied at unit level.

The 5% tolerance band for non-compliant outputs is across the submission period as a whole rather than relating to separate periods of before and after policy changes.

There is no requirement for research underpinning impact case studies to be compliant with the Open Access policy. 

The REF team are open to making changes or corrections direct to policy where this is the most appropriate and helpful approach. This is likely to be infrequent and in most cases clarification through guidance and/or FAQ will be the most appropriate way to address issues and concerns.

Where amendments are made to policy text this will be made clear. 

Outputs of staff on non-volume contributing contracts published between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2025, are exempt from open access requirements. This includes:

• contracts that are Teaching and Research (ACEMPFUN 3), or Research only (ACEMPFUN 2), but do not have SRR or RI
• ineligible contracts, that is, all other contracts that are not Teaching and Research or Research only. Outputs of staff on these contract types would also be exempt for the period 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2028, see paragraph 8.3.3.