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REF FAQs
The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the UK’s system for assessing the excellence of research in UK higher education providers (HEPs).
The REF outcomes are used to inform the allocation of around £2 billion per year of public funding for universities’ research.
The REF was first carried out in 2014, replacing the previous Research Assessment Exercise. Research England manages the REF on behalf of all the four UK higher education funding bodies:
- Research England
- Scottish Funding Council
- Medr, Wales’ Commission for Tertiary Education and Research
- Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland.
The funding bodies’ shared policy aim for research assessment is to secure the continuation of a world-class, dynamic and responsive research base across the full academic spectrum within UK higher education.
FRAP – The ‘Future Research Assessment Programme’, which was launched by the four UK funding bodies in May 2021 to evaluate the previous Research Assessment Exercise (REF2021) and to identify approaches to future research assessment that:
- encourage and strengthen the emphasis on delivering excellent research and impact,
- support a positive, productive research culture, while
- simplifying and reducing the administrative burden on the HE sector.
Following a period evaluation and consultation with the sector, some initial decisions about the next exercise (REF2029) were announced in June 2023.
The initial decisions of FRAP represent a shift towards a broader and more holistic approach to research assessment.
There is a stronger focus on people and culture, and a move away from assessing individuals.
The exercise will be conducted in 2029, with institutions submitting in late 2028.
REF 2029 will have an expanded definition of research excellence. The three elements familiar from REF 2014 and REF 2021 have been renamed, their content adjusted, and their weightings rebalanced to reflect this:
- People, culture and environment (25% weighting, up from 15% in REF 2021) replaces the environment element and will be expanded to include research culture;
- Contribution to knowledge and understanding (50% weighting, down from 60% in REF 2021) replaces the outputs element. It will largely be based on assessment of research outputs, but will also include evidence of broader contributions to the advancement of the discipline;
- Engagement and impact (25% weighting, no change from REF 2021) replaces the impact element. It is similar to the impact element of REF 2014 and will consist of impact case studies and an accompanying statement.
REF 2029 will move further away from the assessment of individuals. There will be a new approach to determining research volume, where the number of staff with significant responsibility for research is drawn directly from the HESA staff record. The volume measure will be based on the average number of staff over a number of years.
In REF 2029 there will be no minimum or maximum number of outputs contributed by an individual. This is intended to increase inclusivity of the assessment and provide an environment which is supportive of researchers establishing themselves or moving into academia.
For journal articles and conference proceedings the implementation date for the revised policy will be no earlier than 1 January 2026. The REF 2021 Open Access Policy submission requirements will continue to apply to journal articles and conference proceedings until succeeded by the new policy.
There will be no longform open access mandate for REF 2029. An open access requirement for submission of longform outputs will be in place for the next assessment exercise, with implementation from 1 January 2029. The funding bodies will work in collaboration with UKRI and key stakeholders and across the sector to develop a policy for longform outputs for implementation in January 2029.
The volume measure for REF 2029 will be calculated using data taken directly from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Staff record. This data will be based on the FTE of staff on Teaching and Research contracts with significant responsibility for research (SRR) and staff on Research-only contracts who are independent researchers at your institution. The FTE used to calculate the REF 2029 volume measure will be gathered at a contract level. There will not be a REF census date for staff.
It is expected that the draft guidance for REF2029 will be published in 2025 followed by final guidance in 2026.
