REF2029 Open Access Publishing Policy Guidelines
The new REF 2029 Open Access Policy comes into effect on the 1st January 2026.
The policy affects all eligible research outputs published from the 1st January 2026, researchers must either:
- Publish the output open access under a creative commons open access licence, CC BY, CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-ND, or equivalent
- Publish the output open access under any other licence and deposit the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) within 3 months of first available publication date to the institutional repository Queen Mary Research Online (QMRO)
- Deposit the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) within 3 months of first available publication date to the institutional repository Queen Mary Research Online (QMRO)
Eligible output types for REF 2029 are Journal articles or Conference papers published with an ISSN
REF 2029 Best Practice Guidance
To ensure your outputs are eligible for REF 2029 we highly recommend deposit of the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) within 3 months of acceptance to the institutional repository Queen Mary Research Online (QMRO). This practice was established following the previous REF open access policy and will provide the best route to compliance with REF 2029 during the transition from the old to new open access policy; it will also remove the requirement to keep track of publication dates, to know when you should deposit your eligible research outputs .
Research Outputs published before 1st January 2026
For all eligible publications published after the 1st January 2021 and before 1st January 2026 researchers must either:
- Publish the output open access under a creative commons open access licence, CC BY, CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-ND, or equivalent and deposit the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) within 3 months of acceptance to the institutional repository Queen Mary Research Online (QMRO)
- Publish the output open access under any other licence and deposit the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) within 3 months of acceptance to the institutional repository Queen Mary Research Online (QMRO)
- Deposit the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) within 3 months of acceptance to the institutional repository Queen Mary Research Online (QMRO)
Please note:
Manuscripts are deposited in QMRO by uploading the file in Elements, files cannot be directly uploaded into QMRO full deposit instructions can be found in our Depositing Research Outputs [PDF 541KB].
If you submitted supplementary materials (tables, figures etc.) with an output, these files should also be deposited into the repository.
Policy Exceptions
If you are unsure if your research has to comply with the current REF 2029 or post-2021 REF Open Access policies please contact Open Research Services for advice.
At present the REF open access policy does not apply to:
- Monographs
- Book chapters, other long-form publications
- Working papers
- Creative or practice-based research outputs
- Data
Comparison table showing changes between the REF2021 and 2029 OA policies
| Journal article or conference paper | Published between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2025 | Published between 1 January 2026 and 31 December 2028 |
|---|---|---|
|
OA published under: |
Deposit Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) within 3 months of acceptance, or use Deposit Exception 6 |
No deposit required |
|
OA published under any other license |
Deposit AAM within 3 months of acceptance |
Deposit Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) within 3 months of publication |
|
Deposit of the accepted manuscript in a repository (the green route) |
Deposit AAM within 3 months of acceptance |
Deposit AAM within 3 months of publication |
|
Allowable embargo on deposited manuscripts (after publication) |
Sub-panels A & B: 12 months |
Sub-panels A & B: 6 months |
Understanding versions of your paper
We talk a lot about ‘versions’ and which ones can be deposited to repositories. Below is a brief outline of the different versions, what publishers may allow you to do with them, and how they relate to open access.
Several factors can dictate which version of your paper can be deposited in a repository, or share publicly from your academic profile webpage:
- Retaining rights if you signed a Copyright Transfer/Licence to Publish agreement with your publisher.
- Whether your research is funded by a funding body that requires you to retain rights over a specific version of your publication.
Know your versions, and keep them safe
Submitted version
The submitted version is also known as the Author’s Pre-print or the original draft version. This is the version that was first submitted to the publisher for consideration and before it has undergone peer review. The content of this version of the paper may go through changes as a result of feedback from peer review, but is acceptable as a self-archived manuscript if the accepted manuscript cannot be deposited to a repository.
Accepted Author Manuscript (AAM)
The accepted manuscript is sometimes known as the Post-print, Accepted Author Version, or Personal Copy. This is the version accepted for publication after it has undergone peer review, but before any copyediting or formatting has been applied by the publisher. Publisher’s formatting changes can include: adding publisher logos, extra columns, headings and footers, typesetting and font changes. The document will often be in an editable format, such as Word.
Make sure you keep the accepted version of your paper; it’s the one that most publishers allow you to deposit in institutional and other repositories, and incorporates textual changes as a result of peer review.
Uncorrected Proofs
The uncorrected proof version of a paper has been through peer review, had changes as a result of peer review applied, and been re-submitted to the publisher to undergo copy and format changes in readiness for publication. Whilst changes to the text and content of the paper can still occur at this stage, this version of the paper is not considered an accepted manuscript, and generally falls under the copyright of the publisher. It is not usually acceptable for self-archiving purposes as a result.
Published version
The published version is also known as the Version of Record (VoR). This is the version that has been published in a journal in print and/or online. The article will include any copy editing and formatting changes made by the publisher, and is usually available online on their website in PDF or HTML form.
Due to publisher’s copyright transfer restrictions, the publisher will often restrict authors from depositing this version to a repository.
Still not sure which version to deposit?
If you are unsure of which version to upload, contact Open Research Services who can help you identify the best version to deposit. We will check whether the journal/publisher you published with permits you to self-archive work in open access repositories, and which version of the paper can be deposited.
You can also check the publisher’s self-archiving policies in JISC's open policy finder, which holds an extensive list of journal and publisher policies for self-archiving work. Check specifically for restrictions such as embargo periods, and which version authors are permitted to archive.