_Image: Grace Gay for Research Professional News; Getty Images_
**Research Excellence Framework team confirms longform outputs will not have an open access mandate**
The Research Excellence Framework team has confirmed that there will only be an open access requirement for journal articles and conference proceedings for the 2029 exercise, with no mandate for longform outputs such as books.
The REF team published its full open access policy on 11 December, along with a summary of the consultation that informed it. While the policy urges institutions to make all outputs openly available as much as possible, it confirms [plans announced in August](https://www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-research-councils-2024-8-no-longform-open-access-mandate-for-ref-2029/) that there will be no mandate for books to be open access.
“While many of the proposed measures have been agreed and incorporated into policy, some have not been taken forward for REF 2029,” the REF team said in a statement.
“These include incorporation of longform outputs, moves towards more open licensing and aligning embargo periods to the UK Research and Innovation open access policy (with the aim of improving openness across the research landscape, and support moves towards rights retention across institutions). However, these areas remain as aims for the funding bodies to progress for the future.”
The implementation date for any open access requirement changes announced today has been pushed back from 1 January 2025 to 1 January 2026, the REF team said. It added that an open access requirement for submission of longform outputs will be in place for assessment exercise that follows REF 2029.
Steven Hill, chair of the REF Steering Group and research director at Research England, said the REF 2029 open access policy “reflects a realistic and achievable policy for the sector and the funding bodies”.
“Publishing it now gives a full calendar year before its implementation,” he said. “We recognise the potential open access publication has to make research more efficient and impactful and I look forward to working with my team in Research England and colleagues in the funding bodies to develop policy for the next assessment exercise.”