diff --git a/submission_processing/process_submissions.R b/submission_processing/process_submissions.R
index cedf5ee024..648ac6dd92 100644
--- a/submission_processing/process_submissions.R
+++ b/submission_processing/process_submissions.R
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ if(length(submissions) > 0){
     curr_submission <- basename(submissions[i])
     theme <-  stringr::str_split(curr_submission, "-")[[1]][1]
     model_id <-  stringr::str_split(tools::file_path_sans_ext(tools::file_path_sans_ext(curr_submission)), "-")[[1]][5]
+    reference_datetime <- lubridate::as_datetime(paste0(stringr::str_split(curr_submission, "-")[[1]][2:4], collapse = "-"))
     submission_dir <- dirname(submissions[i])
     print(curr_submission)
 
@@ -104,6 +105,10 @@ if(length(submissions) > 0){
           fc <- fc |> mutate(model_id = model_id)
         }
 
+        if(!("reference_datetime" %in% colnames(fc))){
+          fc <- fc |> mutate(reference_datetime = reference_datetime)
+        }
+
         fc <- fc |>
           dplyr::mutate(pub_datetime = lubridate::as_datetime(pub_datetime),
                         datetime = lubridate::as_datetime(datetime),