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REF 2021 Open Access Compliance Overview

Compliance and exceptions

Definition of outputs within scope

  • Output is a journal article or a conference proceeding with an ISSN*
  • Output was accepted for publication after 1 April 2016

* Conference proceedings that form part of a book series, (have an ISBN) are exempt from this requirement.

The following outputs are out of scope

  • Monographs and other long-form publications
  • Non-text, creative and practice-based research
  • Research data

Where an institution can demonstrate that it has taken steps towards enabling open access for outputs outside the scope of this definition, credit may be given in the research environment component of the post-2014 REF.