Updated REF 2029 Open Access Policy and the easy way for researchers to meet requirements

Research England has open access requirements for the Research Excellence Framework (REF 2029). These apply to journal articles and conference proceedings published after 1 January 2021. From 1 January 2026 the requirements are changing.

The University of Cambridge is committed to the principles of open research and expects all publications to be submitted to the Open Access Service, so our advice and guidance hasn’t changed.

What do I need to do?

By following these 3 steps you are supporting this commitment, as well as meeting the open access requirements of REF and other funders: 

When you submit your paper to a publisher, follow the Self-Archiving Policy guidance and ensure that your co-authors agree to apply a CC BY licence to the future accepted manuscript.
As soon as your paper is accepted for publication, upload your manuscript to Elements, the University's research information management system, and provide the date of acceptance.
Follow the advice from the University’s Open Access Team. They can answer any questions you have and advise on available funding. They will also manage the deposit of your manuscript into Apollo, the University’s repository.

At publication your deposited manuscript will be publicly available under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.

Cambridge staff and students can watch the open access briefing video to learn more.

Why is this important?

The REF is the UK’s system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. Research England allocates funding based on the outcome. Funding from REF, and from other funders, relies on us making our world-leading research available to all.

About the updated REF Open Access Policy

The REF Open Access policy requires that journal articles and conference proceedings with an ISSN must be made open access to be eligible for inclusion in the REF submission. For the current REF period, this applies to outputs published after 1 January 2021. For outputs published after 1 January 2026, the allowed embargo periods will be shortened and outputs should be licensed for open sharing and reuse.

How Apollo meets the criteria

The University’s Self-Archiving Policy enables authors to retain the right to make their Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) openly available under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, through the University’s repository Apollo, regardless of any policies and embargo periods set by publishers.

Even if your co-author deposits the manuscript somewhere else, it is still important to upload your accepted manuscript to Apollo via Elements. If you haven’t used Elements before learn how to get started.

Apollo ensures there is a permanent open access record of your research, even if things don’t work out as planned with the publisher. It is by far the most straightforward way to ensure you are compliant with REF and many other funders.