City Research Online and REF

When do the papers need to be submitted? 

• As soon as possible after the date of acceptance
• No later than 3 months after the acceptance date 

What is considered an 'acceptance date'?

The date of acceptance is usually defined as a point at which the author is notified that: 

• their output has been reviewed by the journal or conference (normally via peer review)
• all academically necessary changes have been made in response to that review
• the article is ready to be taken through the final steps toward publication (normally copy-editing and typesetting).

The notification is usually received by email. 

For REF2021, the publication date is considered to be the earliest date a research output is available to public. 

This is, in most cases, an online publication date. This date is different from the final publication date when all publication details are released.