The Library: Open Access

The next Research Excellence Framework will be REF 2029. Initial decisions have been published and early decisions on the Open Access Policy are:

• REF will publish their final OA policy position in autumn/winter 2024.
• The implementation date for the final policy will be no earlier than 1 January 2026.
• There will be no longform output Open Access mandate for REF 2029. 

Until a new policy is published, REF 2021 rules apply. Continue to deposit author accepted manuscripts of journal articles and conference proceedings with an ISSN in Symplectic within three months of acceptance. 

The Research Services team process these records and make outputs available Open Access in the Leeds Beckett Repository, within publisher rules. 

The consultation on People, Culture and Environment is ongoing and an interim report is expected before the end of 2024.

Final full REF guidance is expected to be published in 2026.

REF 2021 policy document

REF 2021 at Leeds Beckett