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Reporting and Feedback

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This page explains the different reports that are requested following beamtime at the ESRF:

The Experiment Report ; The Proposal Report ; The User Evaluation Form

The Experiment Report

  • Is it mandatory?

The submission of an Experiment Report for each beamtime session carried out at the ESRF is mandatory for all publicly funded beamtime sessions, including ESRF public beamtime, CRG private beamtime and inhouse research beamtime. It is mandatory for all ESRF public proposal types, including long-term project (LTP) and community access (HUBs, BAGs and MX BAGs) proposals.

The submission of an Experiment Report is not required for commercial or beamtime commissioning (BLC) beamtime, however it is possible to submit one if desired although it will not be possible to cite it as a relevant report in proposals.

  • Content, submission and deadlines

The report template contains a summary table concerning the session itself, and a 1.5 page free text section that should briefly summarise the performed experiment and results obtained, clearly indicating the level of success of the experiment.

The Experiment Report has to be submitted via the ESRF User Portal no later than 3 months after the end of the experiment. For reports supporting the submission of proposals, the deadline for submission of the report is approximately 3 days after the proposal submission deadline – see here for deadline details. You can submit a "preliminary report" to support a new proposal: you will be able to replace it by the final report later, within the period of 3 months following the end of your experiment.

To submit your Experiment Report, click on the "Reports" menu in the "Proposals/Experiments" tab of the User Portal. You will be redirected to your "My Proposals" page. In the "My submitted proposals" table, click on the button "Reports" of the relevant proposal. You may add a new report or replace/view an existing report.

  • Is it confidential?

According to the ESRF data policy, the Experiment Reports will not be published during the embargo period (3 years for publicly funded beamtime). During that time, they will only be accessible via the ESRF User Portal and used by the Proposal Review Panel members during the proposal review, the ESRF Management, the User/CRG Office and the beamline managers. After the 3-year embargo period, the reports will be made public via the DOI landing page for the experiment in the ESRF Data Portal.

  • Reports and proposal review

The Proposal Review Panel members pay particular attention to the submission and content of experiment reports by the proposer team. Each proposal lists the past beamtime activity at the ESRF of the proposer team, with the status of the Experiment Report submission. The investigators may indicate up to 3 of these experiment reports as relevant reports for the new proposal. Missing reports for experiments that took place more than 3 months ago, and missing reports for more recent experiments indicated as one of the 3 ‘relevant reports’ in the proposal form will most likely result in the rejection of the new proposal.

 

Please use the latest template below for your Experiment Report and carefully follow the instructions given on the first page.

Experiment Report Template

The Proposal Report

Annual Report

Proposers of long-term (LTPs) and community access (HUBs, BAGs and MX BAGs) proposals at the ESRF must submit an Annual Report each year, summarising the proposal activity and results according to the questions listed in the report template.

Final Report - for LTPs and HUBs only

In addition to the Annual Reports required for each year of the LTP/HUB duration, a Final Report is required at the end of the proposal summarising the overall outcome of the LTP/HUB over its full (typically 3 years) duration.

The Final Report is normally submitted for the first 31st January deadline following the end of beamtime allocation to the proposal. However, in the case where an LTP or HUB continuation proposal will be submitted, the Final Report should be submitted at the same time to support the new proposal.

Deadlines for submission of proposal reports

  • BAGs and MX-BAGs: 1st March or 10th September, depending on the 1-year anniversary date of the last proposal submission (e.g. for BAG proposals submitted at the March proposal deadline, the annual report must be submitted by 1st March each year).
  • LTPs and HUBs: 31st January each year (same date for the Final Report at the end of the project).

 

Annual report for MX-BAG proposals

The Annual Report for MX-BAG proposals must be submitted via the ESRF User Portal according to the deadlines listed above. The proposal reports will not be published, and will be accessible to the Proposal Review Panel members during the proposal review, the ESRF Management, the User/CRG Office and the beamline manager.

The Annual Report consists of 2 parts:

  1. a statistics part that is automatically generated using data in the ESRF database. This part can be downloaded and used for support in completing the second part.
  2. an activity report part that is downloaded as a template and completed by the proposer team. The completed activity report is uploaded as a pdf file to the ESRF User Portal.

Both parts are combined on submission of the report, and the statistics part is updated with the latest data.

 

  • Who can submit a proposal report?

Only the Principal Investigator (PI) or Alternative Contact (AC) of a proposal can submit the proposal report. Until submission, the statistics part of the report can also be accessed by the Co-Investigators (CI) and users associated with the proposal. After submission, the final report is also available for download to all participants of the proposal.

The activity report template should be completed by all relevant parties before final approval and upload as a pdf file by the PI/AC.

 

  • Mandatory for MX-BAG Continuation proposal

The Annual Report, summarising the activity and results of the BAG over the past year, forms an integral part of any request for continuation of a BAG. The submission of a BAG continuation proposal cannot be completed if the Annual Report for the past year’s activity has not been submitted. On submission of a BAG continuation proposal, the request for continuation and the Annual Report are combined to create the full continuation proposal.

Please see the specific guidelines for MX BAGs for more details.

MX-BAG Proposal Report Template

The Annual Report for (non-MX) BAG proposals must be submitted by email to the ESRF User Office according to the deadlines listed above. The proposal reports will not be published, and will be accessible to the Proposal Review Panel members during the proposal review, the ESRF Management, the User/CRG Office and the beamline manager.

The ESRF User Office will contact the Principal Investigators of ongoing BAG proposals in January and July of each year to remind them to submit the proposal report according to the deadlines.

Please see the specific guidelines for BAGs for more details.

BAG Proposal Report Template

The Annual and Final Report (when applicable) for LTP and HUB proposals must be submitted by email to the ESRF User Office according to the deadlines listed above. The proposal reports will not be published, and will be accessible to the Proposal Review Panel members during the proposal review, the ESRF Management, the User/CRG Office and the beamline manager.

The ESRF User Office will contact the Principal Investigators of ongoing LTP and HUB proposals in December of each year to remind them to submit the proposal report according to the deadlines.

The User Feedback Form

In addition to the Experiment Report, users are also requested to fill in the User Feedback Form after each beamtime session. The form is accessible via the ESRF User Portal and also via the end-of-session email sent to the user team after each beamtime. This feedback will help to improve the facilities and services provided by the ESRF. You can also access the form (without prefilled information from your session) using this link.

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