221 Overview Overview JASRI invites General Proposals twice a year. Submitted proposals are reviewed by the SPring-8 Proposal Review Committee (PRC). In the General Proposal scheme, the PRC approved 329 of 570 proposals in 2006B and 572 of 842 in 2007A. There was only “Medical Trial Use” conducted in the Priority Field Proposal scheme in the period of 2006B and 2007A, where 213 proposals were adopted from 297 in 2006B, and 11 adopted from 16 in 2007A. In total, 4,035 hours of beamtime was allocated to users from 2006B through 2007A. SPring-8 user operation statistics for the period from 1997B to 2007A are shown in Table IV. This table summarizes the beamtime available to users, the number of users and the number of experiments conducted at both public and contract beamlines, which are also illustrated in Fig. 4. The number of experiments conducted in the reserved beamtime at RIKEN beamlines and the number of Priority Research Proposals are included in the number of Public BL experiments in the table and figure. In 2006B and 2007A, SPring-8 provided users with 1,587 and 2,448 hours of beamtime in three and four operation cycles, respectively. As for 2006B, 3,513 individuals utilized the public beamlines in 548 independent experiments, while 1,487 individuals utilized the contract beamlines in 199 experiments. In 2007A, 4,999 individuals utilized the public beamlines in 780 independent experiments, while 2,282 individuals utilized the contract beamlines in 260 experiments. From October 1997, when SPring-8 was opened to the public, through 2007A, a total of 77,847 users conducted 11,567 experiments at public and contract beamlines. Figures 5 and 6 indicate the number of approved experiments along with the affiliated number of users and the research fields from 1997B to 2007A. In Fig. 6, 681 1,252 1,542 1,631 2,486 2,370 2,915 3,277 3,246 1997B: 1997.10 - 1998.03 1998A: 1998.04 - 1998.10 1999A: 1998.11 - 1999.06 1999B: 1999.09 - 1999.12 2000A: 2000.02 - 2000.06 2000B: 2000.10 - 2001.01 2001A: 2001.02 - 2001.06 2001B: 2001.09 - 2002.02 2002A: 2002.02 - 2002.07 1,286 1,702 2,585 1,371 2,051 1,522 2,313 94 234 274 242 365 382 473 486 543 7 33 65 100 88 102 114 110 467 427 794 620 766 977 1,043 1,867 2,093 3,508 3,777 2002B: 2002.09 - 2003.02 2003A: 2003.02 - 2003.07 538 632 142 164 1,046 1,347 1,867 2,246 3,428 2003B: 2003.09 - 2004.02 548 154 1,264 1,844 3,756 2004A: 2004.02 - 2004.07 568 161 1,269 2,095 58,509 TOTAL 9,162 2,405 19,338 36,748 Research Term User Time (hours) Public BL Contract BL Experiments Users Experiments Users 3,546 2004B: 2004.09 - 2004.12 554 146 1,154 1,971 3,741 2005A: 2005.04 - 2005.08 560 146 1,185 1,880 4,032 2005B: 2005.09 - 2005.12 619 187 1,379 1,818 4,809 2006A: 2006.03 - 2006.07 722 227 1,831 2,202 3,513 2006B: 2006.09 - 2006.12 548 199 1,487 1,587 4,999 2007A: 2007.03 - 2007.07 780 260 2,282 2,448 Table IV. SPring-8 user operation results Fig. 4. Numbers of users and experiments conducted. 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 1997B 1998A 1999A 1999B 2000A 2000B 2001A 2001B 2004A 2003B 2003A 2002B 2002A 2005A 2004B Contract BL Experiments Public BL Experiments Users Number of Experiments Number of Users 307 307 465 470 575 600 653 94 241 680 796 702 729 1252 2009 681 2058 3280 2990 3681 4254 4289 4554 5124 4692 5025 706 700 4700 4926 1252 2009 681 2058 3280 2990 3681 4254 4289 4554 5124 4692 5025 4700 4926 5411 6640 5411 6640 234 274 242 365 382 473 486 543 538 632 7 33 65 100 88 102 114 110 548 154 568 554 146 560 146 234 274 242 365 382 473 486 543 538 632 7 33 65 100 88 102 114 110 142 142 164 164 548 154 568 161 161 554 146 560 146 2005B 2006A 2006B 2007A 806 619 187 619 187 949 747 1040 722 227 722 227 548 199 548 199 780 260 780 260 5000 5000 7281 7281 Pr Proposal Schemes, Utilization Statistics oposal Schemes, Utilization Statistics and Resear and Research Outcome ch Outcome 222 2003A 2003B 2004A 2002B 2002A 2001B 2001A 2000B 2000A 1999B 1999A 1998A 1997B 2004B 2005A 2005B 2006A 2006B 2007A Half-year Research Term Number of Approved Proposals Foreign Private Sector National and Public Research Institute University 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 Life Scienc e Diffraction & Scattering XAFS Methodology & Instrumentation Industry Spectroscopy Advanced Large-Scale Research Facilities Strategic Program Power User Proposal Strategy Proposal Number of Approved Proposals 2003A 2003B 2004A 2002B 2002A 2001B 2001A 2000B 2000A 1999B 1999A 1998A 1997B 2004B 2005A 2005B 2006A 2006B 2007A Half-year Research Term Fig. 5. Number of approved proposals by affiliation of applicants (public beamlines). Fig. 6. Number of approved proposals by research fields (public beamlines). Long-term Pr Long-term Proposal oposal Independent of the General Proposals, JASRI has developed a novel scheme for the long-term use of beamlines, in which beam access is guaranteed for up to three years. This system aims to further promote research that is expected to produce outstanding results in the field of science and technology to pave the way for new research areas and research methodologies and to significantly help improve the technology for the industrial base by making the best use of the characteristics of SPring-8. Two proposals were selected from 4 submitted in 2006B and 2 was submitted and selected in 2007A. Eleven proposals were carried out by the end of 2007A. Urgent Pr Urgent Proposal oposal In 1999A, an Urgent Proposal scheme was established in order to adequately respond to urgent requests for conducting experiments as soon as possible. Upon receiving an Urgent Proposal of non- proprietary use, the Proposal Review Committee promptly reviews it electronically in terms of its necessity and urgency as well as on the basis of the criteria for General Proposals of non-proprietary use. three types of research, namely, those performed under Advanced Large-Scale Research Facilities Strategic Program, Power User Proposal, Strategy Proposal, which have their own original peer review systems, are separated from the other general research fields. The percentages of experiments conducted by foreign users were 5.1% for 2006B and 5.2% for 2007A. 223 Pr Proprietar oprietary Resear y Research Pr ch Proposal oposal Users can conduct proprietary research by paying the beamtime fee, 480,000 yen/shift (8 hours) in 2007B. Proprietary research is essential when users have commercially confidential information in their experiment or samples and do not wish to disclose their research results. In 2006B, 31 proprietary experiments were performed at public beamlines and 26 were performed at contract beamlines (22 at BL32B2, 3 at BL24XU and BL08B2, and 1 at BL16B2). In 2007A, 42 experiments were conducted at public beamlines and 24 experiments were conducted at contract beamlines (22 at BL32B2, and 2 at BL16B2). From 1999B, when the system was introduced, to 2007A, a total of 554 proprietary experiments were carried out at both public and contract beamlines. The Pharmaceutical Consortium spent most of their beamtime on proprietary research at their contract beamline BL32B2 in 2006B and 2007A. Pr Proprietar oprietar y T y Time-designated Pr ime-designated Proposal oposal In 1999B, JASRI established a utilization scheme for those who wish to take sole possession of their results and perform experiments during a specific time period by paying a beamtime fee with an increase in price of 50% compared with that charged for public beamlines as premium, 720,000 yen/shift. In this utilization scheme, users can specify the preferred time period in their Proprietary Time-designated Proposal, which will be promptly reviewed once submitted. During the period of 2007A, there have been 11 experiments conducted with a total shifts of 34.75 in this scheme. Priority Resear Priority Research Pr ch Proposal oposal In FY2003, a new scheme for the management of public beamlines was established on the basis of a report on SPring-8 by the governmental review committee. The report called for SPring-8 to further promote the use of public beamlines to produce more research results. The most important point of the scheme was its launching of the Priority Research Program. The new scheme is shown in Fig. 7. As can be seen from the figure, beamtime not exceeding 50% is allocated to Priority Research Proposals and proposals using beamtime reserved for JASRI; thus, more than 50% of the total user beamtime is guaranteed for General and Long-term proposals. The Priority Research Program scheme is intended to make the best use of SPring-8 and to produce more research results. Priority Research Proposals are tentatively categorized into the following three groups: (1) Priority Field Proposal, (2) Power User Proposal, and (3) Strategy Proposal. Priority Field Pr Priority Field Proposal oposal In this particular proposal scheme, JASRI strategically designates research fields in order to promote excellent research results from those areas in scientific and/or industrial domains with high strategic significance. The Priority Field Proposals are further categorized into three subgroups: Nanotechnology Support, Industrial Use and Medical Bio Trial Use. These proposals are reviewed before General Proposals at the review committees designated for each priority field. The outline of each priority research field is as follows. Nanotechnology Support This priority research field was developed to support developments in nanotechnology, using 12 beamlines at SPring-8. Nanotechnology Support at SPring-8 had already started in 2002 under the Nanotechnology Researchers Network Project (Nanonet Project) of MEXT, and was consolidated into the Priority Research Program in FY2003. In 2005B and 2006A, a total of 106 proposals were selected from 211 submitted proposals. This Project will be in effect until the end of FY2006. Industrial Use In relation to industrial use, the Trial Use Program originally ran from 2001B to 2002A for the purpose of attracting new users to SPring-8 mainly from industries, and was restarted as one of the Priority Field Proposals in 2003A. In 2005B, 4 from 6 proposals were selected and the Trial Use program for industrial use was successfully completed. In the 50% 0% 80% 100% Proposal Review Committee J A S R I Allocation Percentage Adjustable General Proposal • Regular Proposal (Open Call) (Non-proprietary/Proprietary) • Long-term Proposal (Open Call) • Urgent Proposal (Open Call) Time-designated Proposal (Open Call) • Priority Research Proposal • Priority Field Proposal (Open Call) • Power User Proposal • Strategy Proposal • In-house Proposal • Training Program • R&D and Commissioned Research Reserved for JASRI Fig. 7. Beamtime allocation scheme for public beamlines. 224 same period, the Advanced Large-Scale Research Facilities Strategic Utilization Program, which is mainly focused on enhancing industrial use, was launched as a national project. There were 101 proposals submitted, of which 72 were approved to be conducted in 2006B and 2007A, respectively. Medical Biology Since November 2005, JASRI has further designated Medical Biology as a priority field to expand the number of users in this field by organizing a trial use from 2006A. In 2006B, 9 from 11 proposals were selected. Power User Pr Power User Proposal oposal The Power User Proposal category refers to proposals of user groups who have a complete understanding of beamline instrumentation, and are highly likely to produce excellent research results in the future. Such user groups are designated as Power Users (PUs) by JASRI and expected to provide support for general users. In return for their support, up to 20% of beamtime of relevant beamlines can be used by the PUs. Five groups were designated as PUs in May 2003. There have been 10 research subjects executed including five running subjects from 2006B and 2007A. Strategy Pr Strategy Proposal oposal Strategy Proposals are expected to contribute to the promotion of research at SPring-8, including the development of new technologies necessary for the operation of the facility. JASRI will conduct such research by itself or jointly with other organizations. Designated strategies research subject were: • Analysis of Nanocomposite Materials (designated in May 2004) • X-ray Pinpoint Structure Measurements (designated in January 2005) • Observations of Biomolecular Structural Recognition Process from Highly Accurate Individual Single Molecular Movies (designated in October, 2006) Beamtime Reserved for JASRI Beamtime Reserved for JASRI Twenty percent of the total beamtime is reserved for JASRI to conduct its own research programs, to flexibly accept the Urgent Proposals mentioned above, to modify and adjust the instruments according to the users' requests, and to maintain the beamlines. Industrial Resear Industrial Research ch In addition to the promotion of research activities in the field of basic science, the contribution to the reinforcement of the technological base in industry has been one of the main pillars of the SPring-8 Project. In 2005, JASRI established the Industrial Application Division by promoting the Industrial Application & Utilization Support Group. The division had intensively carried out the Advanced Large-Scale Research Facilities Strategic Utilization Program of MEXT, and has succeeded in doubling the number of new users conducting experiments at SPring-8. Public beamline BL19B2, Engineering Science Research Beamline was the primary beamline used for the Trial Use Program. Currently, there are three public beamlines assigned for industrial application, which are Engineering Science Research I (BL19B2), II (BL14B2), and III (BL46XU), as shown in Fig. 3. The total number of proposals adopted for industrial applications accounts for more than 20% of the entire use. In addition to these public ones, there are three contract beamlines constructed by the Industrial Consortium and Pharmaceutical Consortium for use by consortium members. The coordinator system, which was introduced in FY2000 to support industrial use mainly through consultation, continues to play a crucial role in exploring and acquiring new users from industrial domains. The Trial Use Program has made a significant contribution to industries by revitalizing local industries and creating and promoting new industries. There have been workshops and training courses organized to introduce a variety of research fields and SR instrumentation. Resear Research Outcome ch Outcome Under the new utilization system established in 2006, SPring-8 users are charged only the expenditure fee for non-proprietary research, provided that they submit an experiment report within sixty days after their experiments. When their results are disclosed in scientific journals or any other form of publication, the project leaders are required to report to JASRI and have their results registered with JASRI. As of November 30, 2007, the cumulative number of refereed publications (journals, proceedings and dissertations) was 3,612, of which 2,847 were attributed to public use, 553 were attributed to contract beamlines and 559 were attributed to RIKEN beamlines; here, publications related to two or more beamlines are counted separated for each beamline. Figure 8 shows the number of refereed publications annually counted.
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