Symplectic Elements REF2029 Steering Group Kick Off: Feb 8th, 2024

Last week we were happy to convene the first meeting of the Symplectic Elements REF2029 steering group. The group’s purpose is to input and collaborate to ensure that Symplectic Elements fulfils and exceeds REF requirements for all members of the research community. The meeting brought together key stakeholders from various institutions to strategise and share for the forthcoming REF cycle. 

The REF for 2029 is expected to introduce significant alterations, particularly around the decoupling of researchers and outputs. This shift in emphasis will necessitate a review and retooling of some of the functionality within Symplectic Elements to continue to effectively support the new REF process.

We are grateful to the 20 UK institutions which have volunteered representatives to work together with us. 

With information still anticipated from Research England, much of the focus of this first meeting was on logistics and timeframes for further sessions throughout the year. Topics discussed are outlined below: 

One of the primary topics of discussion revolved around the inclusion of staff in REF submissions. While initial publications from Research England suggest that staff will not be included in submissions this time around, we anticipate that there will still likely be a need to capture and manage staff within Symplectic Element’s REF submissions functionality, in order to e.g. report on the distribution of submitted outputs by author. Additionally,  considerations are being made regarding the need for expansion of the metadata model in order to support capturing Unit of Assessment (UoA) in the user HR feed, and to capture Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) (as returned to HESA) within the UoA entity.

We contemplated the feasibility of automatically assigning affiliated Research outputs (previously REF2) outputs to the appropriate units based on co-author UoA assignments. This approach was deemed sensible, with discussion about the attribution process to the submitting unit and what evidence will be required to demonstrate legitimate UoA attribution.

The group also discussed the inclusion of outputs produced by non-academic staff, and the impact of this inclusion on overall submission scores, and on existing staff populations within Elements. 

Our present understanding is that Research England is seeking commonality with the UKRI open access policy position for REF open access requirements, and further consultation on this is expected imminently. While enhancements to OA Monitor reporting within Symplectic Elements are already planned this year (see below), we do not intend to make any decisions on further development of REF OA functionality until policy has been set. 

The group discussed the evolution of impact case studies, and how Symplectic Elements could continue to support this aspect during and outside of the REF. 

In the second half of the meeting, we outlined our plans to expand the functionality of Elements and the OA Monitor to align with evolving requirements, including improved reporting capabilities and integration with funder requirements.

Symplectic Elements offers a user-centric review & approval workflow tool which allows organisations to design evaluation exercises where researchers can create and submit packages of their work for review and/or approval. 

Based on community feedback and the expected requirements for REF2029, we are looking to extend our review & approval functionality to introduce support for object-centric review & approval workflows. This new functionality will allow individual outputs or activities to be nominated (either manually or automatically based on a set of business rules) and assessed using both automated checks and a review & approval workflow. 

This new functionality will allow year-round assessment of publications and other activities for future REF returns, as well as supporting other evaluation and compliance exercises. 

This year’s roadmap includes plans to expand the OA Monitor to help institutions report on OA strategies and monitor policy compliance for key research funders, including the UKRI. This will include the ability to consider ‘OA Status’, drawn from Dimensions and other sources, when calculating compliance alongside repository metadata (e.g. from Figshare). 

Given the size of our volunteer group, we discussed different approaches to the steering group in order to optimise our time and resources; including creating a smaller ‘working group’ within the steering group, or holding topic-specific meetings (e.g. on impact, open access). Decisions on this are underway and will be relayed to the group in due course. It was agreed that the group need not meet again until further guidance has been published from Research England. 

In the interim, slides and recordings have been shared with all participants, and a #REF2029 channel has been created in the Symplectic community slack. Clients can request to join our community slack here.