Terms of Reference

The MLZ provides free beam time for scientific use at its instruments – under the condition that results are published in a peer reviewed journal or an equivalent paper, naming the MLZ. Please note that you agree with our Terms of Reference when submitting a proposal! Please find the acknowledgement patterns below.

Please find here information about the necessary Experimental Reports as well as the Scientific Data Policy of the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ), too.

You must provide some acknowledgements in all publications based on experiments on this instrument. To make your work easier, we have prepared all the necessary templates for you on this page. on this page .

• An experimental report has to be written for each experiment performed at the MLZ.
• Please submit it via your personal account at GhOST within two months after your experiment.
• The experimental report will be made accessible only twelve months after the experiment was finished.

Please keep in mind that (the lack of) submitted experimental reports for former experiments is a decision factor for the referees allocating the beam time!

1. This policy is part of the terms of use of the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ).
2. It applies to all experiments for which time is allocated through the MLZ User Office. It does not apply to purchased proprietary research.

1. Each experiment is carried out under the direction of a Principal Investigator (PI), who is the corresponding author of the proposal.
2. The PI must keep his contact information in the MLZ User Office database up to date until the analysis of the experiment is completed. The PI may nominate a successor. The PI should nominate a successor if it is foreseeable that he will be unable to complete the data analysis. If a PI has deceased, or cannot be reached over an extended period of time, MLZ management may appoint a new PI.

1. As an MLZ user, you are given access to an open computing infrastructure. Do not abuse this trust. Respect the privacy of others. Do not exploit security holes. Do not access, exploit or distribute experimental data unless you are entitled to do so.
2. As an experimenter, you must fully cooperate in the acquisition of meaningful and complete metadata. A hand-written or electronic experiment log must be kept according to the standards defined by the instrument responsibles. Providing wrong, meaningless, or cryptic metadata is a violation of professional standards.
3. Infringements may lead to the suspension of user accounts and denial of future beamtime requests.

1. The PI is responsible for the preservation of experiment logs, metadata, raw data, results of data analysis and software used for data analysis, in accordance with professional standards and with the legal and contractual rules under which he is working.
2. MLZ has the right to preserve experiment logs, metadata, raw data, and reduced data that have been generated on MLZ systems. MLZ intends to preserve these data for at least ten years, except for certain high data rate instruments (e. g. tomography). MLZ cannot be made liable for loss or unavailability of data.

1. The PI has the right to distribute the experimental data.
2. Appropriate MLZ staff (e.g. instrument scientists, computing group members) has unrestricted access to experimental data for internal purposes.

1. If an experiment has led to a publication, the PI must deposit a reference in the MLZ publication data base within three months.
2. After publication of the results, the PI should grant public access to the experimental data.
3. MLZ intends to provide Unique Resource Identifiers (URI) for all experimental data. Once this is realised, all publications should cite the URIs of used experimental data.