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REF 2029 open access policy announced (posted December 2024)

The revised REF open access policy is now available on the , and will apply to outputs published from 1st January 2026. We are currently reviewing how the new requirements will be implemented and will provide full guidance in the new year.

The new policy will apply to journal articles and conference contributions with an ISSN. There will be no open access requirement for longform outputs (monographs, book chapters and edited collections) for REF2029. 

For outputs published between 1st January 2021 and 31st December 2025, the requirements for REF2021 (outlined below) will apply. Please continue to  within 3 months of the acceptance date to ensure REF eligibility.

Please contact oaenquiries@sheffield.ac.uk with any questions about the REF open access policy

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APCs in transformative hybrid journals no longer eligible costs for UKRI and Wellcome block grants (posted October 2024)

After 31st December 2024, APCs for transformative hybrid journals can no longer be paid from the UKRI or Wellcome open access block grants. If you are publishing in a hybrid journal that is not eligible for gold open access under a transitional agreement, please comply with the UKRI or Wellcome open access mandates by making your author accepted manuscript available via a repository with a CC BY licence using the institutional Research Publications and Copyright Policy.

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UKRI open access requirement for monographs (posted October 2023)

Monographs, book chapters and edited collections published on or after 1st January 2024 will come in scope of the UKRI open access policy for the first time, and will need to be made open access under a creative commons licence no more than 12 months after publication. More information can be found on our UKRI open access policy guidance page.