The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions (HEIs). Results from the REF are used by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to inform how they allocate their quality-related research funding to HEIs.
What do I need to deposit?
Please continue to deposit the final, peer-reviewed accepted version of any journal article or conference proceeding with an ISSN accepted for publication after 1 January 2021 within 3 months of acceptance to meet the open access requirements for REF2029.
St George’s Open Access Publications policy requires that the upload is made via the CRIS for our institutional repository, SORA. The image shows what is meant by the final, peer-reviewed accepted version.
There will be some changes applicable for outputs published after 1 January 2026; further guidance to follow in due course.
Image: Research England Open access research FAQs (public domain for open reuse)
How and when do I deposit?
Deposit your authors’ final peer-reviewed manuscript in CRIS for SORA. Please deposit it as soon as possible, but no later than three months from the date of acceptance.
For further guidance, please login to your CRIS profile and click on the help tab at the top right-hand side.
For further information about St George’s scores for REF2021 and REF2014, please see Research Excellence Framework.
Information on the results of REF 2021 is available at Results and submissions REF2021, and there is a searchable database of REF 2021 impact case studies available.
Information on the results of REF 2014 is available at Results and submissions REF2014, and there is a searchable database of REF 2014 impact case studies available.
Contacts
For all enquiries about CRIS and SORA, email the CRIS/SORA team.
For all enquiries about open access, email the open access team.