Once you have requested a reivew for up to four of your research outputs that you believe will be judged 3* or 4*, and have clicked 'save' on each of these, you have completed the RRE. You will be able to see which outputs you have proposed by clicking on the ‘review’ tab of the individual publication record, or via the ‘My Reviews’ screen in your Pure account.

Outputs that have already been graded in a previous RRE may also be re-reviewed as part of the RRE process.

No extensions to the RRE deadline of 17th February 2025 are possible. In order to prepare outputs for the reviewers, a snapshot of the data in Pure will be taken on the morning after the deadline. 

Your RRE proposed outputs and their scores will never be publicly visible. In Pure, individuals can see their own scores, and a small number of staff with administrative privileges are able to look at all RRE scores within a Unit of Assessment - UOA(s).

University of Manchester co-authors on an output will also not be able to see the RRE grade, unless they also proposed the output for review. 

If you want to update your external profile, create a CV , or any other Pure related functions, please see the Pure Support pages.

Heads of School use RRE grades as one indicator to inform their assessment of the quality of the aggregate research output profile (i.e. the School and UOA profiles) and provides key background data to support their decision making for the REF submission in a fair and transparent manner. They are aware that RRE grades for specific outputs may be revised and recalibrated by the UOA coordinating team as part of the preparation of the REF 2029 submission, and in light of new information about the output, such as subsequent citation rates or prizes.

When assessing an individual's research profile for probation or promotion other indicators of output quality pertinent to the discipline or field are considered (peer review, referee comments, article citations, book reviews, etc.). The assessment of output quality is one part of the assessment of overall research performance, along with the record of PGR supervision, research funding, etc. as detailed in the probation and promotion guidelines. This is in line with the implementation of the statement of research expectations.

RRE grades should not be presented in the paperwork for probation or promotion by either the applicant or in accompanying supporting statements; or introduced in discussions in probation and promotion committees. RRE grades should also not be included on an individual’s CV.

We would like to know about all your potential 3* and 4* outputs, so please propose for review any outputs that you believe are likely to be judged internationally excellent (3*) or world-leading (4*) using REF 2021 criteria. 

All graded outputs from previous years’ RREs will stay in the summary of proposed outputs which you can view by clicking on the ‘review’ tab of the individual publication record, or via the ‘My Reviews’ screen in your Pure account.

Depending on local reviewer capacity, a sample of proposed outputs may be reviewed in each RRE cycle. By the end of the annual RRE process, the majority of outputs proposed for review will have an internal review grade.

Any ungraded outputs will roll forward into the next RRE - there is no need to propose them again.

Ineligible outputs will not be reviewed, for example outputs first published before 1 January 2021, or outputs that are 'accepted' but not yet published. 

There is no right of appeal against the academic judgement of reviewers. Staff may request re-review of an output assessed by a previous exercise at the discretion of their School’s Research Director. This would only be appropriate where there has been a significant change in the profile of the output, for example a conference paper now published in a journal, or a major increase in citations etc.

Formative evaluation (giving individuals feedback on their outputs) is not part of RRE objectives. Schools should give all staff the opportunity to discuss their RRE results, normally though the annual P&DR process, if the individual wishes.

Please refer to your local contacts for more information.

If the research output is not in Pure, please follow these instructions for adding a new output.

Information on depositing outputs and adding content to Pure can be found in our Pure Guidance.

Remember that all journal articles and conference proceedings accepted for publication should be deposited via the Open Access Gateway, rather than directly into Pure. This means that the Library can ensure that your paper meets the open access requirements to be eligible for the next REF by verifying the manuscript version, checking applicable journal and funder policies and setting embargo periods on publication.

The Library will aim to create the record in Pure within one working day of your deposit via the OA Gateway. 

If you have proposed an output in error or, for example, you believe that it is not eligible, you should raise this with your local RRE contact.

First check if the output is eligible: Does it contain original research, where you have made a distinct and substantial contribution to the output? Has it been published since 1 January 2021?

Of your eligible outputs, we advise you to select those which you consider the best and most important pieces of work. Reviewers will assess the originality, significance and rigour of the piece, and these factors should be the main drivers when choosing your output, before you consider other indicators such as citations. As long as your contribution was significant, it does not matter whether you were a lead author. This means that your best outputs for RRE may not be the ones that you would choose for other purposes, e.g. making a promotion case, or demonstrating the breadth of your work.

If you need help in selecting your best outputs for RRE purposes, please contact your School Research Director or Institute Director in the first instance for advice.

Yes, for RRE 2025 you can propose outputs published before you joined the University as well as outputs published since you worked here. The output portability rules for REF 2029 have not been confirmed by Reserch England and, as such, we will continue to follow REF 2021 rules. 

We use the REF2021 definition of original research: 

Definition of research for the REF2021

1. For the purposes of the REF, research is defined as a process of investigation leading to new insights, effectively shared.

2. It includes work of direct relevance to the needs of commerce, industry, and to the public and voluntary sectors; scholarships; the invention and generation of ideas, images, performances, artefacts including design, where these lead to new or substantially improved insights; and the use of existing knowledge in experimental development to produce new or substantially improved materials, devices, products and processes, including design and construction. It excludes routine testing and routine analysis of materials, components and processes such as for the maintenance of national standards, as distinct from the development of new analytical techniques. It also excludes the development of teaching materials that do not embody original research.

3. It includes research that is published, disseminated or made publicly available in the form of assessable research outputs, and confidential reports.

This means that review articles will not usually be RRE eligible (an exception might be a Cochrane Systematic Review for example). If you need help in selecting your best outputs for RRE purposes, please contact your School Research Director, Head of Division, or Institute Director in the first instance for advice.

If your output was added to Pure whilst still at 'accepted' stage, it may not yet have been updated by the Library. You can amend this by opening the output item, and clicking "Add publication status and date" under Publication State.

Choose "Published" and add the date of publication.

Items that are "E-pub ahead of print" may also show as not yet published, but these are eligible for RRE because they are available in the public domain.

Please do not amend any details about public access to the output, as this may affect REF eligibility. Please do not remove the accepted date from your Pure record, as this is important information required by the Library’s Open Access team to manage your deposit. 

If in doubt, contact the Library at openresearch@manchester.ac.uk

You should propose up to four outputs you believe will be judged 3* or 4*. This is an annual exercise and individuals with more than four outputs they believe to be 3* or 4* will have the opportunity to propose these outputs for review in a future RRE.

All RRE outputs will be assessed in line with the REF 2021 Assessment Criteria and graded according to the REF grade levels, as follows: 

All selected outputs will be examined in detail by reviewers: journal rankings will not be used to rate outputs.  The University of Manchester is a signatory of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment which recognises that journal-based metrics are a poor surrogate measure of the quality of individual research articles.

See the RRE Criteria and Working Methods for further information on how outputs will be assessed. 

Unclassified (or “u/c”) means quality that falls below the standard of nationally recognised work, or work which does not meet the published definition of research for the purposes of this assessment, for example a review article that does not contain any original research.

The RRE only focuses on research outputs. You are not required, as part of RRE, to provide information on potential impact case studies or other activities which may inform disapline level 'People, Culture and Environment' narratives. However, it is important that you keep details of your impact and other activities up-to-date in Pure. See the guidance on activities and impact.