Preparing for REF

To be considered for the next Research Excellence Framework (REF), your journal articles and published conference papers must be in SURE and open access.

To be eligible for REF2021 submissions must adhere to specific requirements.  To meet these requirements it is impaotant to do the following:

  • Add your final peer-reviewed versions of journal articles and conference papers to SURE within 3 months of acceptance for publication.
  • This applies only to journal articles and conference proceedings with an international standard serial number.
  • It will not apply to monographs, book chapters, other long-form publications, working papers, creative or practice-based research outputs, or data.
  • The final, author-created manuscript (see the video below) must be made open access within the stated maximum embargo period (12 months for REF panels A and B, 24 months for panels C and D).

An explanation of 'final, author-created manuscript':

For detailed instructions on how to upload your research to SURE, please visit 'Add your research to SURE'. There is a useful FAQ page on the REF2021 website.

Visit the SURE website here.

The library now manages SURE. 

Get in touch with the team at sure@sunderland.ac.uk. 

Page reviewed: September 2023