187HIGHLIGHTS 2020

The scientific areas of the ESRF research activities reviewed by these 12 panels are shown in Table 5.

Rolling proposals for the cryo-electron microscope were received and reviewed on a continual basis during the EBS shutdown, but the first proposal call for the X-ray beamlines in March 2020 saw a total of 1238 applications for beam-time received, of which 424 (34.2%) could be allocated beam-time. The distribution of shifts requested and allocated by scientific area for all of 2020 is shown in Table 5, while the number of shifts requested, allocated and delivered per year since 2013 is shown in Figure 160. The data for delivered shifts in 2020 include experiments up to 31 December 2020, and so are not yet complete, since the 2020/II operation period will finish on 17 March 2021.

The annual number of experimental sessions and user visits since 2013 is shown in Figure 159. In 2020, nearly 90% of user visits were remote, meaning that the user did not travel to the ESRF but participated in the experiment remotely.

One of the key performance indicators of the ESRF is the number and quality of publications accepted in peer-reviewed journals that result from data taken either wholly or partially at the ESRF, or which include ESRF staff as authors. Yearly publication output from the ESRF has been systematically at a level of over 1800 for many years now, as shown in Figure 161. At the time of going to press, 1602 publications had already been registered for 2020, giving a total of 36 085 publications accepted in peer- reviewed journals, and this figure will continue to evolve well into next year. Of these, now more than 400 every year are published in high-impact-factor journals (IF > 7). These are excellent figures, showing that ESRF research output remains one of the highest worldwide.

J. McCARTHY

Fig. 160: Amount of beam-time requested, allocated and delivered, 2013 to 2020. N.B. Beam-time delivered for 2020 is up to 31 December 2020, and does not include

the beam-time that will continue to be provided in the remainder of 2020/II.

Fig. 161: Numbers of publications appearing in refereed journals reporting on data collected either partially or totally at the ESRF, 2013 to 2020. The number

of publications for 2020 is not final at the time of going to press.

Total shifts Total shifts Scientific field requested allocated Chemistry 2 730 840 Earth Sciences 1 040 336 Environment 470 171 Hard Condensed Matter Science 4 152 1 157 Cultural Heritage 201 69 Life Sciences 932 342 Applied Materials Science 3 205 951 Medicine 478 194 Engineering 261 75 Methods & Instrumentation 347 102 Structural Biology 2 065 1 789 Soft Condensed Matter 1 440 414 Totals 17 321 6 440

Table 5: Shifts of beam-time requested and allocated for public user

experiments, year 2020.