REF 2029 RoadmapREF 2029 Roadmap

This article gives an overview of the items that we're currently working, as well as the items that we're planning on starting next. All planning is done in collaboration with the REF working group. The overall priority is the order that we intend to develop and release, and the details section provides more details into the individual outcomes that we're planning. Our aim is to release the features when they are ready and in collaboration with the REF group, so some feature will be bundled into our major releases and some will be in our minor releases. 

Changes to priority

Since our last roadmap UKRI have published the guidance on CKU, and based on feedback from the REF working group, we have changed some of the priorities. 

The following have been pushed to later:

• Impact model updates
• REF volume calculations
• Validation
• REF1 model updates

Q4 2025

Reviews

Ability to change managing organization on reviews

With this, it will be possible to change the managing organization on reviews. This means that it will be possible to have another managing organization on the reviews than what is on the corresponding research output.

Propose outputs for review

This includes various fixes and improvements to the personal propose flow of reviews on the personal overview screen. We are going to update which publications that can be selected, current limit is too strict. It will be changed to any output that has a publication status within the REF period and where the person has an author role. We will also address the issue where it isn't possible to propose outputs that are validated.

It has also been requested that we should introduce a configuration option, whether the review section should be shown at all, so this will also be added.

Show research output reviews to all authors

We're adding an option to configure if a research output review should be shown to all authors on that research output. With this, authors on co-authored outputs can see that fellow authors have already requested a review, and therefore doesn't need to. This is similar to how the propose flow were on REF2021 and REF2014. 

List of UOAs on review

We want to add a list of UOAs on the reviews, such that when doing a finalization of reviews, it should be possible to define which UOAs this review should be considered in. This would help in getting an overview of proposed research outputs and which UOAs they are considered in. We also intend to use this in the creation flow of CKUs, this is something that we're currently working on with the REF group.

Additional columns for review summary table

To complete the overview of reviews, we're adding Requested by to the overview table of reviews. This enabled editors and others to see who requested the review as opposed to who created the review.

Information about requesting author

To provide additional information to the review editors, we're going to add information about the requesting author, who requested the review, and which UOA is assigned to the author, if any.

Ability to change requesting author

To improve the review workflow, we're going to add the option to change the requesting author on the review editor. 

Open Access

We are going to update Pure's REF open access logic to include the second phase of compliance, which is coming in effect from 1st of January 2026. This will include various changes to update the logic. Some of the areas we're updating are:

• Embargo periods
• Open access exceptions
• Open access period

Contribution to knowledge and understanding skeleton model

We're looking to build the skeleton model of CKU to be inline with the released guidelines. The idea is to include common metadata, and wait with all metadata that falls under the Information to sub panel, as this is not yet known. This is awaiting further guidance from UKRI.

Creation flow of CKU

We're currently exploring how the creation flow should be. We're collaborating with the REF working group, to explore how this could work, in light of the new guidance of CKUs. 

First half of 2026

Reviews

Reporting roles for review

We are adding two new roles for reporting on Reviews, a Reporter of research output reviews, and a Global reporter of research output reviews. This will enable more control on who should have access to report on reviews and which reviews they should be able to report on. 

Reporting on reviews

The current reporting capabilities on reviews needs to be updated, such that it is easier to report on individual question and answers. This will improve the reporting, and provide a better overview to the institution and REF/review leads.

Option to change proposer of review

With this, a review editor, or administrator, can change on the review, how have proposed/requested this review

REF1

We're going to explore the options of adding a REF1 and what type of information that is needed given the latest updates to the guidelines. This will be an ongoing discussion with the REF working group.