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Contents
1. Research Period
2. Beamlines and Beamtime Available to Users
3. Several Bunch Mode Operation in 2009A
4. Proposal Submission
5. Submission Deadline
6. Proposal Review
7. Notification of Review Results
8. User Fees
9. Beamtime Fees
10. Publication of Research Results
11. Deadline for Proposals 2009B (next half-year research term)
12. Calls for Other Types of Proposals

1. Research Period
From April through July 2009
(Engineering Science Research Beamlines I, II and III, accepting proprietary proposals only, are available only during the first half of 2009A: from April through mid June.)

2. Beamlines and Beamtime Available to Users
Beamlines and beamtime available to users are listed below. Please click on the links to see the specifications and status of experimental stations. If you have no experience using the desired beamline or if you have questions about the experimental stations, please contact the beamline scientist of the beamline before applying for beamtime. To see what kind of experiments have been performed at SPring-8, please check with the SPring-8 Solution Database.

Public Beamlines:

*If you wish to use one of these beamlines for non-proprietary research, please consider submitting a non-proprietary grant-aid proposal or industrial application proposal.

RIKEN Beamlines:
Please contact the beamline scientist of the desired beamline before applying for beamtime.

3. Several Bunch Mode Operation in 2009A
  A-mode: 203 bunches
  B-mode: 4-bunch train x 84
  C-mode: 11-bunch train x 29
  D-mode*: 1/7-filling + 5 bunches
  E-mode*: 2/29-filling + 26 bunches

* The filling modes of D and E-modes will be operated in Research Term A (e.g. 2009A, 2010A). In Research Term B (e.g. 2009B, 2010B), D and E-modes will be 1/14-filling + 12 bunches and, 4/58-filling + 53 bunches, respectively. For details, click here.

If you have a preference for a particular operating mode, choose from the pull-down menu on the Basic Information page of the online application form, and explain the difference in efficiency between your first- and second-choice modes in the box provided for "Others."

4. Proposal Submission
Applicants/project leaders are required to submit proposals online through the web-based proposal submission system. First, 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 leader can submit proposals: if a project team member needs to submit a proposal in place of the project leader, he or she 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.

[Non-Proprietary Proposal]
User Information Website (UI site) > Login > Proposal Submission > New > Non-Proprietary Research > General Proposal

Click here to download a working copy (MS Word) of the online application form.

[Proprietary Proposal]
User Information Website (UI site) > Login > Proposal Submission > New > Proprietary Research > General Proposal

Click here to download a working copy (MS Word) of the online application form.

If you are applying for proprietary beamtime, you need to submit a "Proprietary Use Agreement for Public Beamline." Please download the agreement from the UI site, have it signed by the person who is responsible for the payment, and send it to the SPring-8 Users Office by post no later than December 18, 2008.

Important Notes
a. Project Leader
A project leader is a person who will assume overall responsibility throughout the experiment at the SPring-8. Please note that students are not eligible to be a project leader.. If you are a (prospective) Ph.D. student, please consider submitting a budding researchers support proposal.

b. Proposal Type (New/Continuation)
Choose "Continuation" if you were unable to finish your experiment in the previous research term for compelling reasons, and wish to continue the experiment. When you wish to continue research after using up all the beamtime allocated in the previous research term, please choose "New."

c. Use of Multiple Beamlines
Applicants wishing to use more than one beamline must submit a separate application for each beamline. Submitting multiple applications does not work against applicants if it is deemed appropriate to use more than one beamline. In such case, applicants may use the same wording in the abstract page of the applications.

d. Past Research Results
Please be sure to provide the list of publications with abstracts in chronological order - most recent first: please list as many as space permits. As for applicants who have conducted experiments at the SPring-8 in the past, the number of papers registered with the SPring-8 Publications Database is considered during peer review in determining, in part, the merits of your proposal.

e. Beamtime Allocation for BL41XU (Structural Biology I) Non-Proprietary General Proposals
In view of effective allocation of beamtime and expected increase of proposals, beamtime for BL41XU can be made available to users in units of 1.5 shifts, starting from 2008A. Therefore, if you request BL41XU only, apply for beamtime in units of 1.5 shifts; but if your second-choice beamline is BL38B1, please apply for beamtime in units of 3 shifts as before. In this case, your BL41XU beamtime may be allocated in units of 1.5 shifts, and BL38B1 beamtime in units of 3 shifts, respectively. Please note that this rule does not apply to other types of proposals or other beamlines.

f. Beamtime for Preliminary XAFS Experiments
When deemed necessary, a certain amount of beamtime is provided for preliminary XAFS experiments requesting longer hours of beamtime (e.g. the beamtime is necessary to explore a new field of application, to challenge something new, or to acquire experimental/analytical techniques). Firstly, a part of requested beamtime is allocated for successful applicants to conduct a preliminary experiment. They are required to report the results to JASRI and subject to review. Then, the number of shifts necessary for the rest of the experiment is determined based on the review results.

For step-by-step instructions on how to submit proposals, please see this page and Guidelines for Completing Application Forms.

5. Submission Deadline

Thursday, December 11, 2008, 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. If you have trouble completing/submitting your application online, please contact the SPring-8 Users Office (see Contact) before the deadline.

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.

6. Proposal Review
6.1 Non-proprietary Research
The scientific and technological significance, the necessity of the SPring-8 as a research tool, the scientific feasibility and safety of the experiment are comprehensively reviewed. If the research area of your proposal is Industrial Applications, the review of scientific and technological significance will be focused on the potential and significance of the expected results in terms of technologies for industrial base, the social significance of the proposal, and the contribution to social economy. As for applicants who have conducted experiments at the SPring-8 in the past, the number of papers registered with the SPring-8 Publications Database is also considered during peer review in determining, in part, the merits of your proposal.

6.2 Proprietary Research
Technical feasibility, safety of the experiment, public-spiritedness and ethicality of proposals are considered.

7. Notification of Review Results
Applicants will be notified of the review results in writing early February 2009.

8. User Fees
Public beamline 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 liquid He, He gas, and the stockroom reagents, parts, and stationeries.

  Fixed Fee: 10,300 yen/shift (15,450 yen/1.5 shifts: BL41XU*) incl. tax
  Variable Fee: calculated based on the amount actually used
  * See Beamtime Allocation for BL41XU (Structural Biology I) Non-Proprietary General Proposals

Important: Supported by the Government's treasury, users affiliated with organizations outside Japan were exempt from paying the user fees until 2008B; at this point, however, it is uncertain if we will be able to obtain the necessary funding for 2009A.

Click here for more details.

9. Beamtime Fees
Non-proprietary Research: Free of charge
Note: Please submit a "SPring-8 Experiment Report" online within 60 days after the experiment for your research to be considered non-proprietary. You are also required to make the research results available to the public in the form of publications such as journal articles.

  Proprietary Research:
    Regular Use: 480,000 yen/shift (8 hours)
    Time-Designated Use: 720,000 yen (regular fee + 50% premium)/shift (8 hours)

10. Publication of Research Results
Please submit a "SPring-8 Experiment Report" online within 60 days of the completion of the experiment. Two weeks after the deadline for all Experiment Report submissions (60 days + two weeks after the end of each half-year research term), experiment reports with database search functions are made available to the public on the UI site. Please also be sure to disseminate your research results through publication in peer-reviewed journals, oral conference presentations, etc. and register the results with the SPring-8 Publications Database as soon as they are published.

11. Deadline for Proposals 2009B (next half-year research term)
Deadline for 2009B proposals (second half of fiscal 2009) is scheduled for early June 2009. For 2009B, 303 shifts are expected to be available, while 243 shifts are available for 2009A.

12. Calls for Other Types of Proposals
Please use the following links to see the calls for other types of Proposals:
- Nanotechnology Support Proposal/Nanonet Support Proposal
- Industrial Application Proposal*
- Medical Bio Trial User Proposal
- Medical Bio EX Proposal
- Budding Researchers Support Proposal
- Non-Proprietary Grant-Aid Proposal
- Long-term Proposal
* You cannot submit an industrial application proposal using the same application details as a general proposal.

Contact
SPring-8 Users Office, JASRI
1-1-1 Kouto, Sayo-cho, Sayo-gun
Hyogo 679-5198 Japan
Fax: +81-(0)791-58-0965
email: sp8jasri@spring8.or.jp