REF 2028: all you need to know about submissions and assessment

Details of proposed reforms for the 2028 Research Excellence Framework (REF) are published by UK funding agencies on 15 June. Here we summarise the key changes to submissions, assessment and weighting.

What is the REF?

The REF is a national assessment of UK research held every six to seven years to determine the quality of research produced by higher education institutions, which is used to allocate about £2 billion in annual research funding that institutions can spend as they wish.

For REF 2021, more than 76,132 academics submitted at least one output across 28 units of assessment (UoA). Of the 185,594 research outputs assessed by expert panels, 41 per cent were deemed world-leading (4*) and 43 per cent judged outstanding (3*). Some 7,000 impact case studies and about 2,000 unit- and institutional-level environment statements were also submitted.

How will REF 2028 differ from REF 2021?

Research outputs

In REF 2028, just 50 per cent of a UoA will depend on research outputs, down from 60 per cent in 2021.

The research outputs element has been renamed “contribution to knowledge and understanding”, and assessment of outputs will be expanded to include a judgement of a unit’s contribution to knowledge and understanding.

Output submissions will now need to include a “structured statement” covering their “wider contribution to knowledge and understanding in the disciplinary area, supported by evidence and data, the contributions that enable the research of others outside the HEI and how the outputs submitted are representative of the research undertaken within the disciplinary area”. This statement will make up at least 10 per cent of the quality sub-profile for this assessment element.

Impact

The social, economic or political influence of research, known as “impact”, will retain a 25 per cent weighting in REF 2028.

It will be renamed “impact and engagement”, and a “structured explanatory statement which sets out the wider contribution of research activities to society and the economy” will need to be included alongside impact statements. The statement will make up at least 20 per cent of the quality sub-profile for this assessment element, but in some cases, it could constitute up to 50 per cent of the impact score.

Funding bodies intend to weight the statement on a sliding scale, proportionate to the number of case studies submitted, to ensure that its contribution to the sub-profile is no less than that of a single impact case study.

Institutions will be required to submit a minimum of one impact case study per disciplinary submission. The number of case studies required in each submission will be determined by the average full-time equivalent (FTE) of volume-contributing staff in the unit.

Environment

Renamed “people, culture and environment”, this element will make up 25 per cent of the overall score, up from 15 per cent in 2021.

As in 2021, this element will be assessed using disciplinary level and institutional level statements, with the latter constituting at least 20 per cent of a UoA score.

In REF 2021, environment statements could be as long as 12,000 words, depending on the number of researchers submitted, and there were few format requirements or guidelines. In REF 2028, statements will be follow a “more tightly defined, questionnaire-style template that will create greater consistency across submissions and focus on demonstrable outcomes”.

Work is under way to decide which metrics, data or indicators could be used, but potential indicators could include, according to Research England, “equality, diversity and inclusion data (that are already collected via the Higher Education Statistics Agency [Hesa] staff record), quantitative or qualitative information on the career progression and paths of current and former research staff, outcomes of staff surveys, data around open research practices, and qualitative information on approaches to improve research robustness and reproducibility”.

How will staff be submitted?

In REF 2021, all staff with significant responsibility for research employed on 31 July 2020 were required to be submitted by universities, with a selection of the research outputs they published in the seven-year REF cycle submitted three months later.

For REF 2028, universities will compile and submit a list of staff for REF purposes to Hesa as part of annual data entry requirements. This data will be used to calculate the volume of research outputs that universities will need to submit for each UoA – with each unit obliged to submit 2.5 research outputs for every full-time equivalent researcher. Funding bodies will calculate the volume using an average FTE of eligible staff across the academic years 2025-26 and 2026-27, with plans to move to an average of the entire seven-year REF cycle in future iterations.

Unlike in previous exercises, there is no minimum or maximum number of outputs that each researcher can submit.

Other rules

Unlike 2021, institutions will be allowed to submit the same output to multiple UoA submissions, provided it falls within the UOA descriptors.

Timeline

Summer 2023: Initial decisions consultation launched; work started on potential people, culture and environment indicators

Autumn 2023: Initial decisions consultation closes (6 October); open access consultation begins; Research England to publish further decisions on REF 2028

Winter 2023-24: Invite nominations for REF panel members; appoint panels

Spring 2024: Publish open access requirements; panels meet to develop criteria

Summer to autumn 2024: Publish draft guidance and consultation on panel criteria

Winter 2024: Publish final guidance and criteria

2025: Complete preparation of submission systems

2027: Submission phase

2028: Assessment phase, with REF results publication day likely to occur in December