Call for 2016B Proposals at the SACLA Public Beamlines

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The Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI) announces the call for 2016B proposals to be carried out at the SACLA public beamlines. Please follow the guidelines and instructions below when applying.

< New matter from 2016B >
From 2016B, a new required field for Risk Assessment has been added to web application forms. When filling out a form, you should estimate Risk Assessment Level for every chemical substance including samples to be used at SACLA/SPring-8 experiments. Click here to see the details. If you have questions, contact SACLA Users Office (email: sacla.jasri@spring8.or.jp).

1. Types of Proposals

The SACLA research proposals are categorized into two groups: general proposals and priority strategy proposals. From 2012B, research proposals intended for the project,
“X-ray Free Electron Laser Priority Strategy Program,” commissioned by the MEXT (Ministry of Education, Sports, Culture, Science and Technology – Japan) and launched in FY2012, are included in the priority strategy proposals.
Both non-proprietary and proprietary research are included in General Proposals. The project leaders of non-proprietary research are required to publish their research results. The project leaders of proprietary research are not required to publish their research results but are required to pay the beamtime fee determined in accordance with the beamtime.

Type of Proposal Outline Proprietary
research
Priority Strategy Proposal*1 *2 With a view to strategically produce results, specific research themes have been selected based on the national policy. The JASRI will solicit proposals that are in line with the research themes through an open call. not available
General Proposal*2 The general proposal program is intended for general research with no specific research theme. available*3

*1 From 2012B, proposals intended for the project, “X-ray Free Electron Laser Priority Strategy Research Proposal,” commissioned by the MEXT, are included. If you wish to submit a proposal intended for the project, you need to provide information about the project on your application form.
*2 Proposals using the experimental station, EH5 (experimental facility for complementary use of SACLA and SPring-8), of BL3 are included.
○At EH5, both of the following are available:
– Use of XFEL only
– Use of both XFEL and SPring-8 BL32XU (RIKEN Targeted Proteins beamline) simultaneously
○In either case, your proposal will be considered as a SACLA proposal (regardless of
whether or not you use SPring-8 synchrotron radiation).
○This application cannot be accepted for use of SPring-8 synchrotron radiation only.
For such cases, please submit a proposal application for use of SPring-8 synchrotron
radiation.
*3 For proprietary research:
○ The project leaders are not required to publish their research results (e.g., in refereed journals) but are required to pay the beamtime fee.
○ The project leaders, for the time being, should be affiliated with a corporate enterprise located and registered in Japan.

Once approved for beamtime, proposals are valid only for 2016B.

2. Applicant Eligibility

1) Non-proprietary research (Priority Strategy Proposals and General Proposals)
Basically, there are no restrictions on the eligibility of applicants for non-proprietary research. Please note the following.
Students are not eligible (As project team members, students can participate in any research projects).
[ Important ]
If you are affiliated with an institution outside Japan, please have at least one local contact person affiliated with a Japanese institution participate in your experiment. If you cannot find one, please contact the Users Office.

2) Proprietary research (General Proposals)
Applicants/project leaders, for the time being, should be affiliated with a corporate enterprise located and registered in Japan.

3. Beamlines and Equipment Available to Users

The beam lines and equipment available for 2016B are BL3(XFEL1), BL2(XFEL2), BL1(SXFEL) and the experimental equipment installed at the three beam lines.
For details, please see Beamline Technical Information in SACLA HP.

4. Research Period

From September 2016 through February 2017* (schedule; excl. maintenance periods).
During this period, the facility will be operated around the clock and the user beamtime are allocated to successful proposals.
For SACLA beamlines, the beamtime of non-proprietary research is basically allocated by shift (= 12 hours) and that of proprietary research is allocated in units of two hours.

*Subject to change due to budget.

5. Fees

1. Beamtime Fee
[Non-proprietary Research] Users are exempt from paying the beamtime fee.
[Proprietary Research] 1,098,000 yen/2 hours (Tax included)

2. User Fees
All users are required to pay the fees to cover the costs of beamline maintenance/operation and consumables actually used (user fees). User fees are composed of a fixed fee charged for wear and tear on the facility and a variable fee charged for the SPring-8 stockroom reagents, parts, and stationery.

◇ Fixed Fee*:
[Non-proprietary Research] 15,840 yen/shift (12 hours)
[Proprietary Research] 2,640 yen/2 hours

◇ Variable Fee: calculated based on the amount actually used

Type of Proposal Research Type Beamtime Fee* User Fees*
Fixed Fee Variable Fee
Priority Strategy Proposal Non-Proprietary Users are exempt from paying the fee. 15,840 yen/shift (12 hours) Calculated based on the amount actually used
General Proposal Non-Proprietary
Proprietary 1,098,000 yen/2 hours 2,640 yen/2 hours

* Tax included.

Important: JASRI will cover the user fees for the non-proprietary research submitted by foreign users within the limit of the budget. Please note that the variable fee is not always covered when it exceeds the limit of the budget.

6. Proposal Application and Required Procedures

Applicants/project leaders are required to submit proposals from the SACLA User Information website (SACLA UI site).

1. User Registration
To submit an application form, you need to have obtained a user account (user card ID number and password) by registering yourself. Please make sure that not only project leaders/applicants but also all project team members are registered as users. If you are not registered as a SPring-8 or SACLA user, click here to register.

Note: Registration information is also used for contact. If any of your registration information changes, you must update it from the SACLA UI site.
> Log in to My Page > “Edit My Details” link in the top right hand corner

2. Application Method
Applicants/project leaders are required to submit proposals online from SACLA UI site through the web-based proposal submission system.

Log in to the system with your user card ID number and password. If you have not obtained your user card ID number, please complete user registration first. Please note that only the project leaders can submit proposals: if a project team member needs to submit a proposal in place of the project leader, s/he must log in to the project leader’s account. In this case, the project leader is responsible for managing his or her account information. Before starting the application process, project leaders must make sure that all project team members have completed user registration.

To avoid losing work in the event of a browser crash or unexpected logout, you are strongly encouraged to draft your application offline first using a MS Word templates.

Proposal Application Templates
　General Proposal (Non-Proprietary) 1)
　General Proposal (Proprietary) 1)
　Priority Strategy Proposal (Non-Proprietary) 1) 2)

1) If you wish to use synchrotron radiation of SPring-8 BL32XU (RIKEN Targeted
Proteins beamline) at EH5 of BL3 simultaneously, please provide information about the use of synchrotron radiation on your application form.
2) If you wish to carry out a proposal under the X-ray Free Electron Laser Priority
Strategy Program (MEXT) mentioned above, you are required to provide the
information regarding the Program in the online application form.

For step-by-step instructions on how to submit proposals, please click here.

3. Confirmation E-mail
Upon successful submission, you will receive a confirmation email with a copy of Agreement (Rules for Users) in PDF format attached to it. If you do not receive the confirmation email, please log in to the system and check if your proposal has been submitted successfully.

4. Other
[Lifetime of Proposal]
Approved proposals are valid only for the forthcoming user operation research term (2016B). Make sure that the proposed research can be completed within the period; beamtime cannot be awarded for comprehensive research that cannot be finished within a time frame of one research term.

[Project Leader]
A project leader is a person who will assume overall responsibility throughout the experiment at SACLA.

7. Online Proposal Submission Deadline

Friday, June 10, 2016, 10:00 am (Japan Standard Time)

To avoid last minute technical problems and possible network congestion caused by heavy traffic, you are strongly encouraged to complete and submit your application well in advance of the deadline (Only the deadline day).
If you have trouble completing/submitting your application online, please contact the SPring-8/SACLA Users Office before the deadline.
If you are applying for proprietary research, you need to submit a “Proprietary Use Agreement for Public Beamline*” and “Proprietary Use Pledge for SACLA Public Beamline.” Please download the agreement from the UI site, have them signed and send them to the SACLA Users Office by post no later than June 17, 2016.
* Sign by the person who is responsible for the payment.

8. Review Criteria and Notification of Review Results

1. Review Criteria
The JASRI will review submitted proposals through a fair and equitable review process and select the most qualified users using the following review criteria.

1) Non-proprietary research
Non-proprietary research should be fully peer-reviewed in terms of scientific and technical relevance, the necessity of SACLA as a research tool, ethicality, technical feasibility, and the safety of the experiment. From the following list, criteria 1–5 are applied to General Proposals and criteria 1–5 and 7 are applied to Priority Strategy Proposals.

2) Proprietary research
Proprietary research should be reviewed in terms of ethicality, technical feasibility, and the safety of the experiment on the basis of criteria 3–5.

[SACLA Research Proposals Review Criteria]

Research proposals of a wide range of scientific disciplines shall be fully peer-reviewed and then selected under the criteria outlined below.

Proposal selection should be based on the Science and Technology Basic Plan and other related national policies while balancing international cooperation and competitiveness. Furthermore, proposals contributing to training researchers should also be noted.

  1. Scientific and technical relevance (One of the following criteria shall be fulfilled.):
    1-1 The proposed research is of cutting edge scientific and technological
    value (i.e. innovative and pioneering) or expected to contribute to
    opening up new possibilities of SACLA and must meet either of
    the following criteria:
    a) Expected to make a significant scientific contribution.
    b) Expected to contribute to increasing industrial use.
    1-2 The proposed research has social significance or will contribute to the social economy.
  2. Necessity of SACLA as a research tool.
  3. Conformity to the Science and Technology Basic Law and social norms: the implementation of the research proposal is appropriate in light of the Law and socially accepted ideas, e.g., the implementation of the proposed research and the use of research results are exclusively for peaceful purposes.
  4. Technical feasibility.
  5. Safety of the experiment.
  6. Proprietary proposals shall be reviewed under the criteria 3 through 5 above.
  7. In selecting priority strategy proposal, emphasis should be placed also on a clear direction for problem solving.
  8. If available beamtime falls short of the beamtime required for the conduct of proposed research, preference shall be given to priority strategy proposals when selecting general and priority strategy proposals of equal scientific merit in light of the importance of the priority strategy proposal program.

2. Notification of Review Results
Applicants will be notified of the review results (the outcome of your application) in writing mid-August 2016.

9. Experiment Summary Report (Non-Proprietary Research Only)

To ensure transparency of the non-proprietary research program, users are required to submit an Experiment Summary Report* within 60 days after their experiment.

*Experiment Summary Report
Length: up to one A4 page
Language: English or Japanese
Required Information: purpose, experimental method, experimental data, samples, and summary of the results.

Two weeks after the report submission deadline for the last experiment of the term (60 days after the end of each half-year research term + two weeks), submitted experiment summary reports will be incorporated into the experiment summary report database with search capabilities and made available on the UI site.

10. Dissemination of Research Results (Non-Proprietary Research Only)

The research results obtained through the use of SACLA must be disseminated within three years from the end of the half-year research term in one of the following three formats.

1. Refereed journal papers incl. refereed proceedings and dissertations (Proposal No.
must be specified).

〈The case of the proposal research did not result in publication〉
2. SPring-8/SACLA Research Report
3. Technical journal articles

UI site > Log in to My Page > Application/Reporting > After Experiment > Publications Entry
For details, please click here.

If you are affiliated with a corporate enterprise located and registered in Japan, you may request to switch the research type of your approved general proposal from non-proprietary to proprietary within 60 days after the completion of the experiment or the end of the fiscal year (the end of March), whichever comes first.

11. Important Notes

  1. Radiation Worker Registration
    The Japanese Law (Ordinance on Prevention of Ionizing Radiation Hazards) requires all SACLA users to be registered as radiation workers.
  2. Safety Precaution
    For your safety, do not work alone. Please work in a group of two or more.
  3. Cancellation of Beamtime
    Please be advised that your scheduled beamtime may be cancelled in emergencies such as equipment failure, natural disaster, pandemic, etc. In such cases, users cannot claim compensation for the lost beamtime.
  4. General Insurance and Compensation
    Users shall take out appropriate personal injury and liability insurance before conducting experiments. If users damage SPring-8/SACLA facilities, equipment or persons, either willfully or through gross negligence, JASRI may require them to meet all or part of the cost of repairs. JASRI shall take due account of all relevant circumstances in determining the degree of user liability.

12. Contact/Consultation

  • General Inquiries
    SPring-8/SACLA Users Office
    Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI)
    1-1-1 Kouto, Sayo-cho, Sayo-gun
    Hyogo 679-5198 Japan
    Tel: +81-(0)791-58-0961
    Fax: +81-(0)791-58-0965
    email: sacla.jasri@spring8.or.jp
  • Consultation on Technical Matters
    XFEL Utilization Division
    Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI)
    1-1-1 Kouto, Sayo-cho, Sayo-gun
    Hyogo 679-5198 Japan
    email: sacla-bl.jasri@spring8.or.jp

13. Links

  1. Basic Policies regarding Proposal Selection for Public Beamlines
  2. Information Management Principles for the Usage Promotion Services at the Specific Synchrotron Radiation Facilities

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