REF 2029 Open Access Policy

Journal articles and conference contributions with an ISSN, published between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2028 are in the scope of the REF 2029 Open Access Policy. There is no open access requirement in REF 2029 for other outputs (e.g., books and book chapters).

However, there are 2 timeframes with differing requirements:

Outputs first published online between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2025

When publishing open access on the publisher website

Outputs that are published open access on the publisher website with a minimum Creative Commons licence of CC BY-NC-ND (or equivalent) immediately upon publication meet the policy.

When not publishing open access on the publisher website

Outputs that are not published open access on the publisher website must meet the policy by deposit in an appropriate institutional or subject repository, this includes ORO. The deposited output should be the Author Accepted Manuscript (following peer-review).

Outputs first published online between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2025 must be deposited no later than three months after acceptance, or three months from first online publication. The policy permits publisher embargoes of up to 12 months for Main Panels A and B, or 24 months for Main Panels C and D.

Outputs deposited to a repository should have a minimum Creative Commons licence of CC BY-NC-ND (or equivalent). This is the standard ORO licence.

Outputs first published online between 1 January 2026 and 31 December 2028

When publishing open access on the publisher website

Outputs that are published open access on the publisher website with a minimum Creative Commons licence of CC BY-NC-ND (or equivalent) immediately upon publication meet the policy.

When not publishing open access on the publisher website

Outputs first published online between 1 January 2026 and 31 December 2028 must be deposited within three months of first online publication. The policy permits publisher embargoes of up to 6 months for Main Panels A and B, or 12 months for Main Panels C and D.

If the journal you are submitting to has longer publisher embargoes that those stipulated in the policy you can use a rights retention statement to allow a zero month embargo or the University can claim an exception if the journal was the most appropriate place to publish (paragraph 8.2.2 of REF 2029 open access policy)

Outputs deposited to a repository should have a minimum Creative Commons licence of CC BY-NC-ND (or equivalent). This is the standard ORO licence.