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Dictionary termTrack EStablev2026.2

Impact case study (REF)

See 'REF impact case study' (responsible-assessment). A structured narrative documenting how specific research has produced effects beyond academia, submitted as part of UK Research Excellence Framework assessment.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 21 May 2026

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Examples

Worked examples

Is an instance
A REF impact case study documents how research influenced a national clinical guideline with measurable patient outcomes.
Is an instance
A humanities case study links scholarly research to a major museum exhibition with documented audience reach.

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

Not an instance
An impact case study with no underpinning research evidence meeting the quality threshold.
Not an instance
Submitting a case study that documents engagement without specific changes beyond academia.

Editorial commentary

Impact case studies as documented for REF have become the most widely cited evidence-based impact narrative format in research assessment globally. Each case study runs four to five pages and covers summary of impact, underpinning research, references, details of the impact with corroborating evidence and named corroborators. The publicly searchable REF impact case study database (results.ref.ac.uk) is a major resource for impact studies and methodology research. See also 'REF impact case study' in the responsible-assessment domain for assessment-process detail.

References

REF 2021 impact case study database. King's College London and Digital Science 'Nature, Scale and Beneficiaries of Research Impact' 2015.

Also known as

REF case study · ICS

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="Impact case study (REF)"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/impact-case-study-ref" />

Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

json

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  "@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/impact-case-study-ref",
  "name": "Impact case study (REF)",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/impact-case-study-ref",
  "description": "See 'REF impact case study' (responsible-assessment). A structured narrative documenting how specific research has produced effects beyond academia, submitted as part of UK Research Excellence Framework assessment.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/engagement-impact-sdg#set",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/impact-case-study-ref",
  "sameAs": [
    "REF case study",
    "ICS"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "publisher": {
    "@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
  },
  "dateModified": "2026-05-21T02:22:56",
  "inLanguage": "en"
}

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