In order for a journal article or a conference proceeding to be eligible for submission for REF2029, it must be an open access publication unless there are exceptional circumstances. This applies to all journal articles and conference proceedings with an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN).
The policy does not apply to monographs or other long form publications, to non-text outputs, research data, conference proceedings published with an International Standard Book Number (ISBN), or publications that must remain confidential for security or commercial reasons. However, it has been indicated that monographs and other long form publications will be required to be published open access for subsequent REF exercises following REF2029.
Open Access types:
Gold Open Access is open access which is achieved by publishers. The published journal article is made freely available on the journal website from publication, with a licence that permits sharing and reuse. This often, but not always, requires an APC (article processing charge) to be paid to a publisher to make a paper open access on the publisher website.
Green Open Access is open access which is achieved through repositories. The pre-print (first version of a paper) or post-print (final, peer-reviewed, pre-publication version) is made freely available in an institutional repository (such as QMU's eResearch publications repository) or in a subject repository. The depositing of these papers can be subject to publisher imposed delay periods (embargo), where the paper cannot be made available for a specified time period.
Diamond Open Access refers to a scholarly publication model in which journals and platforms do not charge fees to either authors or readers. Diamond open access journals are often funded by organisations, institutions, or other initiatives.
Open access criteria for papers published between 01/01/2021 - 31/12/2025
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Embargo periods for Green open access publications
Any embargo periods imposed by journal publishers must not exceed the following lengths:
Open access criteria for papers published between 01/01/2026 - 31/12/2028
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What? |
Where? |
When? |
Version? |
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Journal article or Conference Proceeding with an ISSN published via Gold or Diamond open access
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to be deposited in institutional repository (eResearch) for recording
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on publication
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Version of Record / published version
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Journal or Conference Proceeding with an ISSN published via Green open access |
to be deposited in eResearch |
within 3 months of publication |
Author Accepted Manuscript |
Embargo periods for Green open access publications
Any embargo periods imposed by journal publishers must not exceed the following lengths:
Licensing
The strong preference is for licensing as CC-BY or other license formats meeting this standard of openness. However, licensing outputs at CC-BY-NC or CC-BY-ND (including CC-BY-NC-ND) or licenses meeting an equivalent standard of openness are also permitted.
Further information about the policy requirements can be found on the REF2029 Open Access Policy webpage.
For any questions on the REF2029 open access policy or advice on publishing, please email eResearch@qmu.ac.uk .