Effective Date: July 2026 · Last reviewed: July 2026

Purpose and Scope

This policy sets out how laboratory instrumentation is accessed, scheduled, and credited, both by laboratory members and by external researchers. It exists because the Collaboration and Authorship Policy defines two models of engagement for external users of our equipment, the Service and Access Model and the Collaborative Model, but describes only their authorship consequences. This document supplies the operational pathway: how someone actually obtains access, what training is required, who pays for what, and how usage is recorded.

Covered instrumentation includes our Opentrons OT-2 and Flex liquid handling robots, Oxford Nanopore MinION sequencers, TapeStation and Bioanalyzer, QuantStudio 3 and Chai qPCR instruments, Absolute Q digital PCR, thermocyclers, and centrifuges, together with our allocation on the UF HiPerGator cluster.

Choosing the Engagement Model Before Access

The engagement model is agreed in writing before access is granted, not after data exist.

Service and Access Model. The external researcher operates independently using standard protocols, performs their own analysis, and receives no significant technical input from laboratory members. They are responsible for their own consumables. Attribution is to the Acknowledgments section, naming the laboratory and the funding source for the instrument. Authorship is not warranted.

Collaborative Model. The project requires the specific technical expertise of laboratory members, whether through protocol modification for novel sample types, custom hardware, new code, or interpretation of complex datasets. Laboratory members involved in the technical work must be afforded the opportunity to contribute to study design and data interpretation. Where they contribute intellectually and participate in drafting or revising the manuscript, co-authorship is warranted and expected under the four ICMJE criteria set out in the Collaboration and Authorship Policy.

Where the model is unclear at the outset, the default is the Collaborative Model, and the parties revisit the question at the first data review.

Access Pathway for External Users

  1. Enquiry to the Principal Investigator describing the work, sample type, instrument required, approximate volume, and timeline.
  2. Model determination and a written agreement recording which model applies, consumables responsibility, and the attribution or authorship expectation.
  3. Compliance clearance. Where samples originate outside the United States, the requirements of the International Research Partnership Policy must be satisfied before material arrives, including any Material Transfer Agreement. Where samples are biohazardous or of animal origin, the relevant institutional approvals must be in place.
  4. Training and certification on the specific instrument, delivered by a certified laboratory member and recorded in the laboratory training register.
  5. Scheduling account created on the laboratory scheduling application.

Training and Certification

No member or external user operates an instrument unsupervised unless trained and certified on it; supervised hands-on training by a certified member is how certification is obtained. Certification is instrument-specific and recorded in the laboratory training register with the trainer’s name and date. Members ask the PI for training; there is no separate application.

An incorrectly written Opentrons protocol runs to completion without raising an error, and the resulting fault may not be detectable until the sequencing data are analysed. Every new or modified protocol is dry-run without reagents before its first live run, and protocol files are version-controlled under the Data and Code Management Policy rather than kept on a local desktop.

Occupational health requirements are set by UF rather than by this laboratory; see the Field Safety and Travel Policy.2,3

Scheduling and Effort Attribution

All instrument use is booked through the laboratory scheduling application. Booking coordinates access across concurrent projects and creates a record of who did what, on which project, and when.

That record is also a credit mechanism. Scheduling records provide contemporaneous evidence of technical contribution and are one input consulted when contributor roles are assigned under the CRediT taxonomy. They are never the sole basis for such a determination: they capture instrument time and nothing else, so they are silent on analysis, writing, interpretation, and fieldwork, and they record nothing at all for colleagues who never book an instrument. They are not used for employment, hours, or performance purposes.4

Booking rules:

  • Book before use, not after.
  • Cancel bookings you will not use, so the time is released to other users.
  • Long or overnight runs are flagged at booking so that others can plan around them.
  • Recurring bookings for an entire project period require Principal Investigator approval, which is refused only for a stated scheduling reason and may be raised with the Department Chair if a member believes a refusal is blocking their degree progress.

Consumables and Costs

External users under the Service and Access Model are responsible for their own consumables. Internal users draw consumables against their project.

We do not set our own instrument charges. Charging any user for instrument time requires a rate established and approved through UF Auxiliary Accounting; users cannot be billed at unapproved rates, and equipment depreciation, which is what “wear” means, is not recoverable in an ordinary fee-for-service activity. If cost recovery ever becomes necessary, it goes through UF Auxiliary Accounting first and this policy is updated to match whatever rate is approved.6

Members report instrument faults immediately rather than working around them. An instrument operating in a degraded state can produce invalid data with no visible indication of malfunction, which is a research integrity issue.5

Data and Intellectual Property

Data generated by laboratory members is subject to the Data and Code Management Policy, including its metadata, deposition, and retention requirements. Data generated independently by an external user under the Service and Access Model is governed by their written agreement, not by that policy. Original research records remain with the University when personnel depart; departing individuals may take copies and remain bound by confidentiality obligations.1

External users retain rights in their own data as set out in their written agreement. Where an agreement is silent, the matter is resolved before any publication rather than after.

Review

This policy is reviewed annually and whenever significant instrumentation is added to the laboratory.

Policy Acknowledgment

Please print and sign if hard copy is required, or confirm via email.

Member Name (print): _______________

Member Signature: _____________
**Date:** ________

Principal Investigator Signature: _____________
**Date:** ________

Member Acknowledgment: All laboratory members and certified external users must read and acknowledge this policy before first independent instrument use and annually thereafter.

References

  1. University of Florida. Intellectual Property Policy (Policy 14-006). See Section C.2 on custody of original research records.
  2. University of Florida Environmental Health & Safety. Policies and Guidelines.
  3. University of Florida Environmental Health & Safety. Vaccination Policy for Research Personnel.
  4. NISO. CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy).
  5. Ecological Society of America. Code of Ethics for the Ecological Society of America (PDF). As amended May 2021.
  6. University of Florida CFO Division. Service Center Rate Review. See also Fee-for-Service Educational Activity Rate Principles.