REF 2029 ditches open access mandate for books

Scholarly monographs and other long-form outputs have been dropped from open access requirements for the UK’s next Research Excellence Framework following a huge backlash against the proposed policy.

Announcing the U-turn in an update on the REF 2029’s open access plans published on 14 August, the REF’s steering group confirmed “there will be no longform open access mandate for REF 2029”.

The decision follows a three-month consultation, which ended in June, on the proposed plan that would have required most academic books submitted for assessment to the REF 2029 to be made free-to-read within two years of publication. Trade books, titles published overseas and books published before 2026 would have been excluded from the policy.

However, the new requirements drew strong criticism from academics, learned societies and scholarly publishers, who argued that the policy – which was not accompanied by additional REF funding – would impose huge costs on arts, humanities and social science departments in particular given open-access book fees can often exceed £10,000 per title.

At a time of financial difficulty in UK universities, many complained that the plan to extend open access mandates covering journal articles would make it impossible for many departments to submit their best research to the REF, which allocates about £2 billion a year in quality-related research funding across the sector.

In June, research leaders at the University of Oxford said the proposed plan would cost about £20 million at their institution alone in the current REF cycle. The likely overall cost to the UK sector would run “into hundreds of millions”, they said about the “unaffordable” and “excessively bureaucratic” proposed new requirements.

Announcing its reasons for scrapping the open access books policy, the REF steering group said it was “in response to sector concerns, and in recognition of the broad set of challenges currently facing the sector”.

Instead, an open access requirement for submission of long-form outputs “will be in place for the next assessment exercise, with implementation from 1 January 2029”, the steering group said.

In addition to the early decision on open access books, the REF also confirmed that its overall open access policy would be published later this year.

“We will communicate the final policy position, including on embargo periods, licensing, deposit and exceptions for journal publications in autumn/winter 2024. The implementation date for the revised policy will be no earlier than 1 January 2026,” it said.

“This will allow over a year between policy announcement and implementation, which many respondents highlighted as being required to make updates to internal management systems, it added.

REF director Rebecca Fairbairn said she was keen to “provide as much clarity as we can, as quickly as we can, even on the most complex areas of policy”.

“I am grateful to everyone who took the time to engage with the consultation so we can determine the best balance for this policy for the sector,” she added.

Steven Hill, chair of the REF steering group and research director at Research England, added that “open access brings significant benefits across the sector, both for researchers and for those accessing their research”.

“The funding bodies recognise the potential open access publication has to make research more efficient and impactful as an intrinsic part of the research process,” added Dr Hill, stating that he was “[looking] forward to working with my team in Research England, colleagues in the funding bodies, and with UKRI to develop policy for the next assessment exercise”.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com