New members can join the team either as full or associate members. In either case new members need to be proposed by a current full team member and need to propose a specific science project that they intend to focus on. In the case of a full team member the proposal should also outline the expected contribution to the overall survey. Requests for membership should be forwarded to the team leader (scroom
physics [dot] usyd [dot] edu [dot] au).
Approval of new team members is by the executive committee (SAMI exec). Details of membership process are listed below (extract from the SAMI Galaxy Survey policy document).
Full team members
Full team members have unlimited access to the SAMI data and related products and may propose any science project using the data, taking into account previously proposed projects. By being members they are agreeing to abide by the policies described in the SAMI Galaxy Survey Policy document. They have rights to be involved in any science project to which they can make a significant contribution. Full team members may request authorship on SAMI papers on the basis of either their direct contribution to that work, or their overall contribution to the project. There is an expectation that full team members contribute meaningfully to the ongoing effort of the project. This ongoing effort may be via involvement in target selection, observing, software development, data reduction, generation of simulations or any other effort that aids the survey.
Associate team members
Individuals may be associate team members for two specific reasons: (A) to carry out a specific project/analysis generally leading to a paper, which is not currently being undertaken by the team. These Associate members will have access to SAMI data and related products for their specific proposed project and will be authors (often first author) on the papers arising from their project. They do not have access to the data for other projects and do not have rights to be authors on papers unrelated to their proposed project.
Alternatively, an individual could be an associate because (B) they provide a specific product or effort to the survey team, but are not directly involved with the main survey science. In this case in return for the effort/product in question these associate members are eligible to be authors on 'core' survey definition papers, or papers in which their products/efforts are directly used.
Requesting team membership
Requests for full team membership should be made if there will be continued significant involvement in the project. There is an expectation that new full team members will either be i) students/ECRs supervised/mentored by a current full team member, or ii) a researcher bringing a substantial new data product, tool or methodology which would otherwise be unavailable to the team.
Full team member requests should address the following points:
An outline of their key science interests with respect to the SAMI Galaxy Survey, ideally defined as one or more specific papers. There should be enough information for the exec to be able to confirm that there are no conflicts with other SAMI science projects already approved.
The expected contribution to ongoing survey effort. This can cover any area which contributes to the project as a whole, including software development (e.g. data reduction and analysis), target selection, observing, database, simulations, theory. Any unique data product or tool/methodology that is being brought into the collaboration should also be discussed here.
The amount of effort expected to be committed to the project over the lifetime of the survey. Also please list other commitments (e.g. part-time position, teaching, observatory duties, other non-research responsibilities).
Associate membership requests need only address either point 1 or 2 above, depending on the specific type of associate membership requested (type A or B above).
Membership proposals should clearly state which class of membership is being requested and also the name of the current team member acting as sponsor/mentor, if applicable.
Membership requests should be limited to a single page and sent to the team leader (scroomphysics [dot] usyd [dot] edu [dot] au) who will then present the requests to the executive committee (SAMI exec).
