Submission system

The REF submission system is now open. Registered system users are able to gain access.

All Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) participating in the REF have registered to use the submission system. There are system administrators at each HEI who are responsible for creating accounts for system users within their HEI. For further information, please liaise with your designated institutional contact.

The submissions deadline is 29 November 2013 at midday. After the deadline, HEIs will be able to:

access submitted information in read-only format
upload research outputs that were identified as 'pending publication' and upload redacted REF3a, REF3b and REF5 documents (for publication purposes). These uploads must be provided by 31 January 2014, after which all forms within the submission system will be locked and accessible as read-only.

Submission system version 1.2 (May 2013)

Release notes for the submission system v1.2 are available following system updates that took place in May 2013.

Download the Release notes submission system v1.2 as MS Word (44 KB) | Download the Release notes submission system v1.2 as PDF (196 KB)

Submission system version 1.1 (April 2013)

Release notes for the submission system v1.1 are available following system updates that took place in April 2013.

Download the Release notes submission system v1.1 as MS Word (45 KB) | Download the Release notes submission system v1.1 as PDF (212 KB)

User support

A user guide for the REF submission system is available. This has been updated following the submission system update in April 2013. A full list of system validation rules that are enforced when importing data into the REF 2014 submission system either using the web user interface or the API is provided (updated May 2013). A list of error messages that may be encountered when using the REF 2014 submission system is also available.

Frequently asked questions relating to the submission system are also available.

For user support e-mail:user-support@ref.ac.uk in the first instance, or telephone: 0117 9317159. User support is currently available from Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 4.30pm. These hours will be extended close to the submissions deadline.

If you experience any errors or problems with the system:

first check the list of known issues that the REF team are aware of and currently working to resolve.
if the problem is not a known issue, please report the error to user-support@ref.ac.uk even if you are able to resolve it independently.

When contacting user support please include specific details such as a screenshot and/or details of the page, data item and last action performed.

Known issues

There are a number of known issues with the submission system that the REF team are aware of.

System downtime

Scheduled downtime for system updates took place in early April 2013 and is also planned for August 2013. We may also take the submission system down at other times for scheduled maintenance. We will provide advance notice of these down-times by e-mailing the REF main and technical contacts and putting a news item on the system itself.

If the system goes down unexpectedly we will aim to resolve the issue as soon as possible. During the final 3 months of the submission period, we will monitor and investigate problems with system availability 24/7. If unexpected problems with system availability occur we will e-mail all REF main and technical contacts.