From Professor Jodi Lindsay, Academic Lead for REF
Dear colleagues,
I write to you as a REF2021 eligible academic at SGUL. As you know, the REF2021 exercise run by Research England was paused in March of this year, and I’m now writing to you to let you know about the new deadlines and how they might affect you.
The major changes are –
- SGUL’s REF2021 submission date will now be March 31 2021 (instead of Nov 2020).
- For impact cases, the period over which impact is measured is now Aug 1 2013 – Dec 31 2020 (instead of Aug 1 2013 – July 31 2020).
The major things that have not changed –
- Staff eligibility, the census date remains 31 July 2020
- Outputs/papers must be published or first made available in the public domain between Jan 1 2014 – Dec 31 2020.
- Our Environment statements cover the period Aug 1 2013 to July 31 2020.
There are some additional changes to support cases where Covid 19 has had a specific impact on publication or impact cases, but we expect that few will have a major effect on you or SGUL’s submission. If you would like to read more about them they are available here -
Because of the revised timescale, the timelines on SGUL’s Code of Practice are also delayed by 4 months, and I hope you will agree that we do not need to undergo a formal consultation to agree this. The Code of Practice which defines our processes is available here.
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact myself or Yvonne Castle.
We are now back on schedule, although 4 months delayed. Thank you to those who took part in the mock REF2021 in March. We are in the process of assigning internal reviewers to papers, and we hope they will be able to complete their reviews by the end of Sept. In November, we will ask you to tell us about your papers published or likely to be published between the mock REF in March and Dec 31 2020.
We are also contacting those who are co-authors on papers with more than 15 authors to ensure that their contribution to authorship meets REF2021 guidance. Auditable letters from corresponding authors are required. Thank you to those who are responding for your prompt replies, it will ensure we choose the best eligible papers to submit for our REF2021 return.
Finally, REF2021 is inviting us to submit 500 words on the impact of Covid 19 on our research, with a focus on funding, delays to studies, outputs or impact cases. If you have a key example, please forward it to myself , Jon Friedland or your Institute Director. These statements will not be assessed, but will be published by REF2021.
REF2021 is a major enterprise across the university, and we all need to play our part. It is important for future research funding and our reputation. Thanks for your support.
Best wishes
Jodi
Professor Jodi A. Lindsay
Institute of Infection and Immunity
Director for Cross-Cutting Research Themes, SGUL
Deputy to Deputy Principal (Research & Enterprise), SGUL
Chair of Publishing Committee & Council Member, Microbiology Society
Chair, ESCMID Study Group on Staphylococci