Guidelines

From email from A. Merloni to WG Chairs [Erosita-wgchairs 29] 16.07.2014

1) External collaborations are strongly encouraged, provided there is no overlap and conflict with the interests of consortium members.

2) The responsibility to approve such requests lies with the Project Scientist, on the request and recommendation the relevant Working Group chair(s). Support from the WG chair(s) and approval of the PS are mandatory. Before putting EC requests forward, WG chairs should first inform and ideally discuss such proposals with all the members of the WG, to ensure there are no conflicts. The Steering Committee will review periodically the status of EC and the progress of their activities.

3) The basic criteria to apply when considering an EC request are a) scientific merit b) the benefit to the eROSITA project and c) benefit to the eROSITA_DE collaboration.

4) EC requests are made by an individual investigator (this could be extended to PhD students of the proposing investigator), or small groups. Large group collaborations (large survey teams, etc.) are dealt with at project level.

5) EC requests should be associated with a well defined project, and should not be generic requests to work on eROSITA data or general science topics. They should have defined aims and specific outputs/deliverables, typically a scientific paper or papers. The period of activity should also be defined, initially a maximum of one year, with the possibility of renewal/extension. Collaborative projects of scope greater than this are possible but do not really fit into the EC category and will need special consideration.

6) A consequence of the above guideline is that currently we cannot approve any EC request to work on real eROSITA data, as we are >1 year from launch (and even longer from the acquisition of the first sky map). It is very important that this is made clear to everyone approaching us at this point.

7) On the other hand, at this point in time, we should welcome EC requests to work on "pre-launch" activities. These can be interpreted in a broad sense: it can include technical work (for example, writing software), working on simulations, making predictions and forecasting for eROSITA, but also pure scientific projects, either theoretical or observational, for example "pilot surveys" with ROSAT or XMM-Newton surveys or samples. While approved EC requests pre-launch will not guarantee access to eROSITA data later, if an existing pre-launch collaboration is in place, it is clearly more likely that a post-launch EC request will be approved. People who make EC requests asking to work on real data at this could be encouraged to rejig their proposal for pre-launch activities, with this in mind. The WG chairs and the PS should decide whether the pre-launch activity is valuable in itself, however, and clearly if an EC proposes a pre-launch activity which does not deliver any output, this might not be positive for future EC requests for real data.

8) Approved External Collaborators are not members of the eROSITA_DE consortium. As such ECs should not routinely or automatically be invited to eROSITA_DE consortium meetings. On the other hand there is always the possibility to invite guests to consortium meetings, independent of any EC status, if it is seen as beneficial to the consortium and useful for the meeting. Requests for such attendance should be made to the PI or PS. ECs can be encouraged to visit a eROSITA_DE consortium institution during the collaboration period to discuss and work on the project - though clearly no project resources can be made available to finance this.

9) As per general policy, EC may not participate in research project that make use of proprietary eROSITA data outside the eROSITA_DE collaboration (i.e. work at the same time on Russian proprietary data), unless authorized to do so by the PI.

How to submit EC proposals in the eROSITA_DE Wiki

0. Login into the Wiki

1. edit the URL

- example: let's say, the user is member of EroStars; then go to

- then the proposal wiki page will have to be named https://wiki.mpe.mpg.de/eRosita/EroStars/EcProposalName (where Name is a unique identifier of the proposal, typically the Name of the External collaborator)

2. Use the Template Form

- You will then presented with a blank page saying: "This page does not exist yet. You can create a new empty page, or use one of the page templates." - On the left column (page templates to be chosen from), click on "EcProposal"

3. Edit the template and save page (you might also want to subscribe to this page to get notification when it is evaluated)

- Please provide all required infos - Do not forget to set the appropriate EroXxx group in ACL and Title etc. - A complete proposal will contain: (1) Name/Affiliation/email of the EC; (2) Name/Affiliation/email of the proposing consortium member; (3) a detailed description of the scientific proposal (figures or .pdf files, max. 2 pages can be attached); (3) Expected Outcome (scientific publication(s); a catalog; shared software and/or simulations; resources; etc); (4) A list of potential collaborators in the eROSITA_DE; (5) Expected duration of the project

4. Proposal Evaluation

- At this point, the PS will be receiving an automatic notification message. - The PS will collect the list of all proposals in the Wiki page: https://wiki.mpe.mpg.de/eRosita/EcProposalList, including the relevant status (pending/approved/terminated, etc.) - The PS will notify the relevant WG chair(s), asking for a first evaluation of the proposal by the WG (a general discussion among WG members will be very welcome). Once a decision is taken by the WG+PS, I will modify the status of the proposal (into accepted until...)