From 1 January 2026, open access requirements for the Research Excellence Framework (REF 2029) have changed. Researchers can meet the requirements by submitting journal articles and conference proceedings to the University's open access service.
The University of Cambridge remains committed to open research and expects all publications to be submitted. Please review the steps below to ensure you follow the updated policy. The REF 2029 at Cambridge SharePoint site has additional information on REF and open access.
What has been updated?
The REF Open Access policy requires journal articles and conference proceedings with an ISSN published since 1 January 2021 to be made open access to be eligible for inclusion in the REF 2029 submission. For outputs published after 1 January 2026, allowed embargo periods are shortened and outputs should be licensed for open sharing and reuse.
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 REF outcomes, and both REF funding and support from other funders rely on making our world-leading research available to all.
What do I need to do?
Follow the Self-Archiving Policy guidance
When submitting your paper, follow the University's Self-Archiving Policy guidance. Ensure your co-authors agree to apply a CC BY licence to the author accepted manuscript so it can be made openly available immediately upon publication via the institutional repository, regardless of any policies or embargo periods set by publishers.
Upload your author accepted manuscript to Elements
As soon as your paper is accepted for publication, upload your manuscript to Elements. The Open Access team will review your submission, advise on funder requirements, confirm whether funding or a Read and Publish agreement is available for any open access fees, and mediate deposit of your manuscript into Apollo.
Maintain your publications list in Elements
Regularly claim publications or manually add any that are not automatically imported to the system. It is important to claim your papers and upload the manuscript as soon as you can to meet both REF and funder requirements. Elements is used for selecting papers and submitting to the REF, but it can only monitor REF compliance once outputs are claimed.
To check whether your outputs comply with the policy, you can run a REF Open Access Status Report in Elements. With relevant permissions you may also be able to run a report for your department or group.
Questions
Staff can access links with their University sign-in. If you have any questions about REF, please contact ref2029@admin.cam.ac.uk. For support with open access, please contact info@openaccess.cam.ac.uk.