User guidelines
Lund University Humanities Lab is a university wide research infrastructure funded by the Joint Faculties of Humanities and Theology (HT) and Lund University (LU). The Lab provides access to research technology, associated methodological know-how, and data management.
To use the lab's resources, a valid and signed project agreement is required. For users who have such an agreement, the following responsibilities apply.
Lund University Humanities Lab responsibilities
• The Lab provides access to hardware and instruments, software and computing power to users' projects. The Lab also provides server space for user data during the lifetime of a research project (with some added buffer time). However, long-term archiving and data storage is the responsibility of the user. Also note that project data is backed up with a retention period of one year (see further below under User responsibilities).
• The Lab provides methodological advice and consultations. Courses, tutorials and workshops are organised on a regular basis. These are announced in advance on the Lab's webpage.
• Booking of Lab facilities and equipment is regulated through an online booking system (found on webpage) and access is given in strict chronological order (first come, first serve). Users need to have a valid user agreement to receive access to calendars enabling booking and to facilities. If several parties wish to book a facility at the same time, priority will be given to employees at HT/LU over external users.
Early contact
Well ahead (minimum two weeks ahead) of starting a new experiment/study/project/consecutive consultations in the Lab (including MA and PhD projects), all users (even experienced ones) must fill in a project application form, and then book a meeting with the directorship to discuss technical, methodological and ethical issues and possible costs. This is especially critical if grant and other funding applications make reference to the Lab. It is also important to ensure maximum accessibility for different projects running in parallel, and to ensure that users have the necessary expertise.
User responsibilities
• The project leader is responsible for forwarding relevant information to all project members, all well as notifying the lab administration which project members should have access to the lab booking system as well as studios and/or equipment.
• The Lab equipment is expensive and sensitive and must be handled with care. It is crucial that users have the required practical expertise. The obligatory initial user agreement meeting will help provide further information if necessary.
• All users should be familiar with the code of conduct in the lab (found on webpage).
• For all projects (including MA and PhD projects) it is crucial that good ethical practice is followed (see below). It is especially important that the necessary ethics approvals are secured before a study is conducted. The project manager is ultimately responsible for research design, data collection, analyses and compliance with good ethical practice (see below). Lab staff can assist with these issues but is not responsible for research.
• All users must sign a user agreement form (generated from the project application online). Each project should have one user agreement form. It is signed jointly with the assistant director. The agreement is archived in the Lab and a digital copy is sent to the user.
• The project manager is responsible for data management, that is, the storage, backup and long-term archiving of research data. The Lab provides server space during the lifetime of a research project (with some buffer time), but at the completion of the project, data is removed from Lab servers and the project manager is solely responsible for the data.
• Users should mention Lund University Humanities Lab in Acknowledgements in any ensuing publication alongside funders using the following formulation: “The author(s) gratefully acknowledge(s) Lund University Humanities Lab”.
• Users should also tag the Humanities Lab as research infrastructure in the Lund University research portal (LUCRIS).
Ethics and co-authorship
Research conducted in Lund University Humanities Lab must comply with good research practice following the recommendations from the Swedish Research Council and Lund University Ethics Guidelines. Studies on human subjects may need approval from the Ethical Review Board. A fee is charged for each application to be paid by the project leader, not by the Lab. Such applications must contain all documentation related to a project (consent forms, debriefing forms, experimental protocol, etc.).
Swedish Research Council (CODEX) - vr.se
Lund University Ethics Guidelines - staff.lu.se
Ethical Review Board- etikprovningsmyndigheten.se
Different levels of involvement by Lab staff have different implications for issues of co-authorship and intellectual property rights. The Lab follows the rules and guidelines for research as recommended in the European code of conduct for research integrity.
Authors formally agree on the sequence of authorship, acknowledging that author- ship itself is based on: (1) a significant contribution to the design of the research, relevant data collection, its analysis, and/ or interpretation; (2) drafting and/or critical reviewing the publication; (3) approval of the final publication; and (4) agreeing to be responsible for the content of the publication, unless specified otherwise in the publication.
European code of conduct for research integrity - allea.org