Open Access and the REF

Outputs

Outputs within the scope of the REF policy

The requirement to comply with the policy only applies to outputs as described above.

Outputs outside the scope of the REF policy

This policy does not affect the following which will still be eligible for submission to REF:

• journal articles or conference proceedings accepted for publication before 1 April 2016
• monographs, book chapters, or other output types
• conference contributions published in a proceedings published without an ISSN (International Standard Serial Number)
• output types that are delivered confidentially for security or commercial reasons

The REF policy does, however, suggest that credit will be given in the research environment component of REF 2021 where a HEI can demonstrate that it has taken steps towards enabling open access for outputs outside scope.

Note: The University's own Policy on the Publication of Research also makes requirements in terms of the deposit of published research outputs.

Date of acceptance/publication

What is meant by date of acceptance?

Research England define date of acceptance as the date given in the acceptance letter or email from the publisher to the author as the ‘firm’ accepted date.

This will normally be the point at which it is confirmed that:

• their output has been reviewed by the journal or conference (normally via peer review),
• all academically necessary changes have been made in response to that review,
• and the article is ready to be taken through the final steps toward publication (normally copy-editing and typesetting).

Provisional acceptance – i.e. conditional on major or minor revisions being made – would not normally be considered as the date of acceptance.

For outputs which do not require peer-review the date of acceptance should be taken as the date that the publisher confirms that the article has been received from the author and will subsequently be published.

See also Version for deposit.

Recording date of acceptance

The complete date of acceptance must be recorded, including year, month and day. For guidance on how to do this within PURE see Deposit your research.

What is meant by date of publication?

The REF policy defines date of publication as the earliest date that the final version of record is made available, usually on the publisher's website. This generally means that the "early online" date, rather than the print publication date, should be taken as the date of publication.

Version for deposit

Version for deposit

It is important that the correct version of a manuscript is deposited in PURE. This is normally the accepted manuscript as described below. This may be augmented with an updated peer-reviewed manuscript.

Most publishers will not allow the final published version to be deposited (see Journal policies and Article versions for more information). If, however, this is permitted and is available within the required timeframe, then the final published version may be deposited instead of, or in addition to, the accepted manuscript.

Author accepted manuscript

The version that is usually required for deposit to PURE is the author's accepted and final peer-reviewed text, otherwise known as "accepted manuscript", "accepted author manuscript",  "author accepted manuscript" (AAM), "final author version" or "post-print".

This diagram is taken from an early version of the REF open access policy and illustrates the different versions generate through the production of an article:

The author's final, accepted manuscript is the one that has been agreed with the editor at point of acceptance.

The accepted manuscript is not the same as the copy-edited, typeset or published paper – these versions are known as 'proofs' or 'versions of record' and publishers do not normally allow authors to make these open-access.

Accepted manuscripts do not typically contain the subsequent non-academic alterations arising from copyediting and typesetting, nor do they typically show the journal page numbers and other publication livery (eg publisher's logo) present in the published version of record. For many people wishing to access research findings, however, accepted manuscripts do represent an academically sound version of the output.

Updated peer-reviewed manuscript

The policy allows the augmentation of the author accepted manuscript by an "updated peer-reviewed manuscript". For example, authors may make minor changes to the manuscript following acceptance (possibly as a result of copy-editing, as figures become finalised, or as rights to third-party material become secured). These changes, however, should not result from peer review.

This means that in some cases authors may add an updated manuscript to PURE. Please note that the original accepted manuscript version should not be removed from the PURE record as this will be associated with the recorded date of deposit.

Exceptions

Exceptions

In cases where it is not possible to meet the open access requirements, the REF open access policy allows for a number of exceptions.

The REF policy lists a number of reasons why an exception may be granted, including reasons why an output could not be deposited to a repository at all, reasons why the output could not be made available as open access through the repository, or technical issues which prevented the output from meeting the requirements.

The reference numbers included in the lists of exceptions below indicate the relevant point within the REF Guidance on submissions (2019/01) document.

Deposit exceptions

The following exceptions deal with cases where the output is unable to meet the deposit requirements. In the following cases, the output will not be required to meet any of the open access criteria (deposit, discovery or access requirements).

• At the point of acceptance, it was not possible to secure the use of a repository (252a)
• There was a delay in securing the final peer-reviewed text (for instance, where a paper has multiple authors) (252b)
• The staff member to whom the output is attributed was not employed on a Category A eligible contract by a UK HEI (defined in paragraphs 52 to 63) at the time of submission for publication (252c)
• It would be unlawful to deposit, or request the deposit of, the output (252d)
• Depositing the output would present a security risk (252e)

Access exceptions

The following exceptions deal with cases where deposit of the output is possible, but there are issues to do with meeting the access requirements. In the following cases, the output will still be required to meet the deposit and discovery requirements, but not the access requirements. A closed-access deposit, where allowed, will be required.

• The output depends on the reproduction of third-party content for which open access rights could not be granted (either within the specified timescales, or at all) (253a)
• The publication concerned requires an embargo period that exceeds the stated maxima*, and was the most appropriate publication for the output (253b)
• The publication concerned actively disallows open-access deposit in a repository, and was the most appropriate publication for the output (253c)

*Embargo periods should not exceed the following maxima:

• 12 months for REF Main Panel A and REF Main Panel B
• 24 months for REF Main Panel C and REF Main Panel D

Interdisciplinary research being submitted to Main Panel A or B that would also be admissible to Main Panel C or D may respect the longer of the two embargo periods.

See Journal policies for more information on embargo periods and related tools.

Note: In these cases, deposit should still be made into PURE. Library staff will ensure that the deposit will remain "closed" until open access requirements can be met.

Technical exceptions

The following exceptions deal with cases where an output is unable to meet the criteria due to a technical issue. In the following cases, the output will not be required to meet the open access criteria (deposit, discovery or access requirements). 

• At the point of acceptance, the staff member to whom the output is attributed was employed at a different UK HEI, and it has not been possible to determine compliance with the criteria (254a)
• The repository experienced a short-term or transient technical failure that prevented compliance with the criteria (254b)
• An external service provider failure prevented compliance (254c)

Further exceptions

Two further exceptions to the policy:

• ‘Other exception’ should be used where an output is unable to meet the criteria due to circumstances beyond the control of the HEI, including extenuating personal circumstances of the author (such as periods of extended leave), industrial action, closure days, and software problems beyond those listed in the technical exceptions. If ‘other’ exception is selected, the output will not need to meet the open access criteria (deposit, discovery or access requirements) (255a)
• The output was not deposited within three months of acceptance date, but was deposited within three months of the earliest date of publication. In this instance, the output will need to meet all other policy requirements. This exception does not need to be applied retrospectively to outputs compliant with the policy from 1 April 2016 to 1 April 2018 which fulfilled the policy requirements within three months of publication (255b)

University exceptions procedure

The exceptions procedure at York is academic-led. Chairs of Departmental Research Committees will approve exceptions within their departments with final sign-off from the appropriate Associate Dean (Research). An audit log of evidence to support exceptions is maintained. Oversight of this log is undertaken by the Research Strategy and Policy Office. Exceptions are recorded in PURE by Library staff following sign-off.

When should an exception be requested?

In some cases, exceptions will automatically be recorded by the Library and it is not necessary for any of the output’s authors to request an exception. This will be the case where:

• The staff member to whom the output is attributed was not employed on a Category A eligible contract by a UK HEI at the time of submission for publication
• At the point of acceptance, the staff member to whom the output is attributed was employed at a different UK HEI, and it has not been possible to determine compliance with the criteria 
• The output was not deposited within three months of acceptance date, but was deposited within three months of the earliest date of publication.

In all other cases where an output is within the scope of the REF open access requirements but does not meet them the authors of the output should request an exception, following the steps below, as soon as possible once they become aware that an exception may be required.

Process for requesting an exception

1. For each output only one exception request should be submitted. For multiple-authored outputs, agreement should be reached between internal authors as to which author should submit the request.

2. Make sure the output has been recorded in PURE, and that the full date of acceptance (year, month, and day) has been recorded on the PURE record. Take a note of the PURE Id for the relevant record (this will be a numerical identifier shown at the top-left of the PURE record).

Please do not use the REF2020 exception field in PURE to record exceptions. This will be completed for you by Library staff once the exceptions has been approved.

4. Open the online REF Open Access Exception Request Form and add your details and the details of the output (including the PURE Id).

5. In the Details section request form, use the drop-down list to indicate the exception that you consider applies to the output. This indication may be overridden by the Chair of Departmental Research Committee at a later stage.

6. Provide a full descriptive explanation for the circumstances leading to the exception request. Confidential information should not be submitted via the request form.

The Chair of Departmental Research Committee will be asked to approve the request and will contact you if they need any further details.

Approved requests will be signed off by the relevant Associate Dean for Research.

Gold open access

Gold open access

Journal articles and conference papers published as open access on the publisher’s website or platform meet the requirement of the REF 2021 open access policy. This is often referred to as ‘gold’ open access.

Outputs which are, or will be, published as gold open access must still be recorded in PURE as soon as possible on acceptance.

The University considers an output to be gold open access for the purposes of REF 2021 if it meets the following conditions:

• The output must be freely available to access through the publisher’s website or online platform without financial or technical barriers (except those associated with access to the Internet itself).
• Open access to the output must have been provided immediately on publication of the version of record.
• The output must be available under an irrevocable licence which allows further distribution of the final version of record, including posting to the institutional repository (a Creative Commons licence would fulfil this requirements, as would similar licence options). 

Outputs which are free to access online will not necessarily meet this definition, for example if the output is not licenced in a way which allows reuse.

Outputs which are not made open access retrospectively until after the output has been published cannot be considered gold open access for this purpose.

If you are unsure whether an output meets this definition, contact the Open Research Team at lib-open-research@york.ac.uk.

Further information

Further information on the policy

For full details of the open access policy for REF 2021 please visit the REF 2021 website, in particular the Guidance on Submissions.

See also the Open access policy for the next REF section of the Library's Open Access FAQs.

Further information on the REF

Please contact the Research Strategy and Policy Office if you have any queries relating to the REF.