Scientific reporting of grants to research infrastructure

The operational report should constitute a summary of the operational activities and link other reporting (key numbers, financial reporting, publication lists etc) to a descriptive reflection of the past year.

Instructions for what the annual report shall include pdf, 129 kB. (pdf, 129 kB)

Updated in January 2025.

Metrics for each infrastructure are defined during the preparation of the specific terms and conditions of the grant or the formal decision regarding the grant amount awarded. The project leader will subsequently receive a tailored template for reporting the key numbers relevant to the specific infrastructure. The purpose of the key numbers is to monitor the development of the research infrastructure over time.

Key numbers must be reported for research infrastructures where this is specified in the grant's specific conditions or in the formal decision regarding the grant amount awarded.

If you are uncertain about the requirements for your grant, contact your research officer at the Swedish Research Council or send an email to aterrappinfra@vr.se.

Key numbers must be reported according to the definitions agreed upon for the grant, which are included as an annex to the specific conditions or the formal decision regarding the grant amount. For grants awarded in 2021 or later, you may also need to report key numbers mentioned in the gender equality plan, as described further below.

Key numbers are reported using the Excel template provided by the Swedish Research Council. If you do not have this template, please contact us at the email address above.

Updated in January 2025.

To show the research supported by the infrastructure, publications enabled by the infrastructure must be reported. For certain infrastructures, it may also be relevant to report other types of outputs, such as patents.

Publications

A list of publications related to the infrastructure, and published during the reporting year, must be prepared according to the following instructions. Note that "publications" refers exclusively to peer-reviewed articles. Articles must have a clear connection to the infrastructure, for instance, that the data which forms the basis of the article is produced or collected using the infrastructure.

Publication data must be submitted as a separate file in a machine-readable format, preferably Excel. (PDF files are not acceptable as they are not machine-readable.)

The following columns must be included:

• Authors
• Year of publication
• Title
• Journal (where the article was published)
• DOI and/or accession number

If both DOI and accession number are given, they should be listed in separate columns. Accession numbers has the format WOS:XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX but is sometimes written without the prefix "WOS:" If the prefix is not given and the accession number begins with zero (i.e. 000XXXXXXXXXXXX) then the column needs to be formatted as text in Excel the values are entered.

Patents and other output

Where applicable, patents based on the construction or use of the infrastructure should be reported. In these cases, a list of patents should be provided (including patent number, registration location, and a brief description).

Additionally, commercialised results in the form of products or services, as well as societal impacts (e.g., in governance or decision-making), should be reported if relevant. Include a list with brief descriptions, as appropriate.

Updated in January 2025.

As from the 2021 call, infrastructures awarded grants are required to submit a gender equality plan. The purpose of the gender equality plan is to raise awareness of the importance of actively addressing gender equality issues and to improve the gender equality efforts of research infrastructures.

Content of the gender equality plan

The gender equality plan should describe:

• How the infrastructure plans to increase awareness of the importance of gender equality within its activities.
• How any gender disparities within the infrastructure’s operations will be identified, and what measures are planned to address them.
• Areas where the infrastructure is aware of existing gender disparities,
• Measurable goals and milestones for monitoring progress.

The plan must be submitted in pdf by email, by 31 August of the first year of the grant period.

The plan should cover the entire grant period, but if updates are necessary, the revised plan should also be submitted to the Swedish Research Council.

Relation to the annual report

The annual report to the Swedish Research Council must include information on gender equality efforts, both internal work and external efforts, related for example to infrastructure usage. While the specifics may vary between infrastructures, the following must always be included:

• Presentation of and reflection on annual key numbers relating to gender equality, compare with the previous year, and comment on progress.
• Presentation of and reflection on the goals and milestones outlined for gender equality efforts.
• Description of gender equality-related activities and measures undertaken internally and externally, including participation data (number and percentage of women/men/other) for activities like training sessions and user meetings.
• Description of planned activities and measures for addressing any identified gender disparities.

This information should be reported under the "Gender Equality" section in the annual report.