Booking Policy

The GIfMI booking policy outlines the practices needed to keep the MRI facility running safely and efficiently. By following these guidelines, all users help maintain a fair, reliable, and accessible research environment. The policy ensures that resources are shared responsibly, that scheduling remains predictable for everyone, and that the facility can operate smoothly without unnecessary delays or disruptions. These principles support both high‑quality scientific work and a respectful collaboration among all researchers who depend on the GIfMI infrastructure.

The Core Facility Management Software (CFMS) manages the bookings of the CORE GIfMI facility. Before the researcher can make any bookings, the following conditions must be met:

• The study must have a GSB number issued after the submission of a study proposal. More details are available on the Start a Study section of the website.
• The researcher must have a CFMS account with a valid financial account with sufficient budget..
• The researchers performing the study must have attended a MRI Safety Training prior to the time slot.

• Bookings must be made via the CFMS website.
• Bookings can only be made with a GSB number and a valid account code, see the previous section.
• Minimum booking time is 1 hour with an increment of 30 minutes.
• The researcher must reserve sufficient time for the scan. This includes time for setting up study-specific equipment (such as monitors, button boxes, etc.) and time to clean up the scan room after the study is finished (i.e., put away equipment, cleaning the table and room, etc.)
• Bookings should preferably be scheduled back-to-back without gaps in between or with a gap of at least 2 hours if possible. It is not allowed to leave gaps between different subjects within the same study as the facility is unavailable to other researchers.
• Animal studies should reserve adequate buffer time before and after the scan to allow for proper cleaning and to ensure that no contact occurs between animals and human study subject. Animal studies are preferably performed as last scan of the day. Buffer time at the end is then not required.
• Only qualified researchers are allowed to book outside office time slots. The level of proficiency will be assessed by the CORE GIfMI Ops team.

• Booked time slots are strictly enforced. Researcher should do whatever is necessary to stay within the designated time slot.
• If a study exceeds the booked time slot and interferes with the next scheduled study, it will be immediately stopped, and the researcher's team must leave.
• If agreed with the researcher of the next study, the scan can continue. The researcher doing overtime must contact the CORE GIfMI Ops team promptly to update the duration of the time slot. However, this should be a rare exception.

• Cancellations or changes to booked time slots are blocked in the CFMS seven days prior to the scheduled scan time (late cancellations). Cancellations or changes made at least seven days prior to the booked time slot will not incur a penalty.
  Contact the CORE GIfMI Ops team if cancellations or changes are required within seven days prior to the booked time slot.
• Late cancellations are charged at 100%.
• Late cancellations due to circumstances outside of the researcher’s control (e.g., subject no‑show, illness, traffic, claustrophobia, etc.) will still result in a late cancellation charge. Failed experiments are considered a normal cost of conducting research. CORE GIfMI will not attempt to determine whether specific reasons are “justified”.
• If a booked scan cannot take place due to facility‑related hardware or software malfunctions, no cancellation fee will be charged. A member of the CORE GIfMI Ops team must be promptly notified of the malfunction if not already aware.
• This exception does not apply to malfunctions or unavailability of user‑supplied hardware, software, or materials. Such issues remain the user’s responsibility.

The mission of GIfMI is to facilitate easy accessible MRI research. Although the rules outlined above are strict, GIfMI aims to apply them as flexibly as possible. Most rules will only be enforced for certain researchers—or for all researchers—when user behavior compromises the proper operation of the GIfMI facility.

Fair Use means that researchers only book the scanning time they actually need, avoid late cancellations whenever possible, and ensure that all users can obtain a booking within a reasonable timeframe. Fair Use also means that when a researcher exceeds their scheduled time, the CORE GIfMI Ops team must be contacted so the booked time slot can be updated accordingly.

Fair Use will be monitored by the CORE GIfMI Ops team. Any violations will be communicated to the researcher concerned. The researcher is expected to take appropriate action to resolve the conflict with the Fair Use policy.