I am pleased to report on behalf of the Sociology sub-panel for REF 2021 some good news. There has been a considerable increase in the number of sociology submissions to the REF, from 29 to 37. And in addition, the proportion of world-class (4*) work has also increased. This represents a large and excellent body of work and demonstrates that the discipline in the UK is in good shape. While there is no direct link between REF results and funding for universities, certainly the results will play a role.

The results for Sociology in REF2021 are here: Unit of assessment 21: Sociology : Results : REF 2021 (both graphs and a link to a spreadsheet with detailed data).  The Sociology REF2021 sub-panel’s report is available at pages 138-144 of the report from the Social Sciences REF Panel, and contains information about the process, the results, and reflections on the results.  The details of the criteria used to make the assessment can be found here.