Guidelines
This document outlines the conditions of access to and retention of raw and other experimental data by Users at ANSTO Clayton Campus; the site of the Australian Synchrotron.
Data Strategy
Users of the Australian Synchrotron shall have access to raw and reduced experimental data, and relevant metadata collected during an experiment (collectively ‘data’) under the following conditions:
a) It is the User’s responsibility to ensure that they take a copy of the data collected during an experiment.
b) The Australian Synchrotron will apply “best-efforts” for data access, retention and security; however, the Australian Synchrotron makes no guarantees to retain or protect data collected from experiments.
c) The Australian Synchrotron will endeavour to retain data collected from experiments, for up to 5 years for low data-rate beamlines, for up to 3 years for mid data-rate beamlines, or for 12 months in the case of high data-rate beamlines.
d) Users may bring portable storage devices to the beamlines to download the data collected from experiments to these devices. The Australian Synchrotron may also support the downloading of data via remote access.
e) The Australian Synchrotron will endeavour to provide remote data access capability for Users to download data collected during experiments to a machine of their choice. Currently, this capability is provided through a web interface however the Australian Synchrotron may change how such services are provided at its discretion.
f) The Australian Synchrotron may restrict access to data to Users that are either named on the Experiment Authorisation form for the experiment, or as modified by the PI using an administrative process approved by the Australian Synchrotron.
g) If third party data storage systems are used, the Australian Synchrotron accepts no responsibility for data security or integrity. July 2026 Data Access and Retention Guide
h) When data has been stored for more than 5 years after its collection for low data-rate beamlines, for 3 years on mid data-rate beamlines, or for 12 months in the case of high data-rate beamline experiments, it may be deposited in a public access archive, or deleted, at the discretion of the Australian Synchrotron.
I) Users must write to the Australian Synchrotron User Office if they do not wish data collected from experiments to be deposited in a public archive.
j) If the Australian Synchrotron intends to delete data from its data store, it will make best efforts to inform the relevant User of this action prior to deletion. It will be the responsibility of the User to ensure that they have downloaded a copy of their data prior to deletion.
k) The retention periods for data storage, and this policy, may be reviewed annually by the Australian Synchrotron.
Definitions
Low data-rate beamlines
Any beamline at the Australian Synchrotron that generates modest data rates – typically less than 500 GB per month. At the time of producing this document, low data-rate beamlines include: IRM, PD, SXR and offline instruments.
Mid data-rate beamlines
Any beamline at the Australian Synchrotron that generates mid data rates – typically 1-20 TB per month. At the time of producing this document, mid data-rate beamlines include: BSX, MEX1, MEX2, MX1, SAXS/WAXS, XAS and XFM.
High data-rate beamlines
Any beamline at the Australian Synchrotron that generates high data rates – typically more than 20 TB per month. At the time of producing this document, high data-rate beamlines include: ADS1, ADS2, IMBL, MCT, MX2, MX3 and Nano. July 2026 Data Access and Retention Guide
Acronyms
ADS1: Advanced Diffraction Scattering 1 beamline
ADS2: Advanced Diffraction Scattering 2 beamline
BSX: Biological Small Angle X-ray Scattering beamline
IMBL: Imaging and Medical beamline
IRM: Infrared Microspectroscopy beamline
MCT: Micro-Computed Tomography beamline
MEX1: Medium Energy X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy 1 beamline
MEX2: Medium Energy X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy 2 beamline
MX1: Macromolecular Crystallography beamline
MX2: Microcrystallography beamline
MX3: High Performance Macromolecular Crystallography beamline
Nano: Nanoprobe beamline PD: Powder Diffraction beamline
SAXS/WAXS: Small and Wide Angle Scattering beamline
SXR: Soft X-ray Spectroscopy beamline
THz/Far-IR: Terahertz and Far-Infrared beamline
XAS: X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy beamline
XFM: X-ray Fluorescence Microscopy beamline
PI: Principal Investigator (of an experiment at the beamline)
User: A researcher that uses the beamlines or other facilities at the Australian Synchrotron July 2026