participant information sheet.

1. Who will conduct the research?

The research is being conducted by a PhD researcher in association with The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom.

2. Title of the Research

Evaluating MINERVA: A Modular Research Workspace for Academic Researchers.

3. What is the aim of the research?

The aim of this research is to evaluate how academic researchers interact with and benefit from MINERVA, an integrated research platform that combines paper management, PDF reading and annotation, note-taking, knowledge graphs, and browser-based capture tools into a single workspace. The study seeks to understand:

• How researchers currently manage their literature, notes, and ideas across multiple tools.
• How MINERVA's integrated environment, knowledge graph, and automated paper ingestion affect day-to-day research workflows.
• Which features support or hinder productivity, discovery, and collaboration.
• How the platform can be improved to better serve the academic research community.

4. Why have I been chosen?

You have been invited to take part because you are an academic researcher, postgraduate student, or research professional who routinely engages with scholarly literature, notes, and reference management. Your experience with research workflows makes your perspective valuable to evaluating and improving the platform.

5. What would I be asked to do if I took part?

If you agree to take part, you will be asked to do one or more of the following, depending on which parts of the study you consent to.

• Onboarding session (approx. 15 minutes). A brief introduction to MINERVA and the study. You will be given access to the platform (currently in private beta).
• Platform use (1 to 4 weeks, self-paced). Use MINERVA as part of your normal research activities. This may include importing papers from arXiv or DOI, annotating PDFs, taking notes, building a knowledge graph, and using the Chrome or Firefox browser extension.
• Semi-structured interview (approx. 30 to 60 minutes). A conversation about your experience, conducted in person or via video call (e.g. Zoom or Teams). With your consent, the interview will be audio and/or video recorded for transcription purposes.
• Optional usability tasks. You may be asked to perform short tasks (e.g. importing a paper, creating a note template) while sharing your screen, so we can observe how the interface supports your workflow.
• Optional follow-up survey. A short questionnaire about your experience after the study period.

Participation is entirely voluntary, and you may choose to take part in only some of the above activities.

6. What happens to the data collected?

The data collected during this study may include:

• Audio and/or video recordings of interviews and usability sessions.
• Written notes and transcripts from interviews.
• Survey responses.
• Anonymised platform usage data (e.g. which features are used, frequency of imports, number of notes created). No contents of your papers, notes, or annotations will be analysed unless you explicitly share them.
• Optionally, screenshots of your interactions with the platform (with your consent).

Data will be analysed to identify themes, usability findings, and design recommendations. Findings may be included in academic publications, conference presentations, teaching materials, blog posts, and project reports.

7. How is confidentiality maintained?

All personal data will be handled in accordance with UK data protection law (UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018).

• Recordings, transcripts, and notes will be stored securely on encrypted, password-protected University-approved storage.
• Your name and any directly identifying information will be replaced with a participant code (e.g. P01, P02) during analysis.
• Only the research team will have access to the raw, identifiable data.
• In any publication, quotations and findings will be anonymised by default, unless you have explicitly consented to having quotes attributed in identifiable format.
• Anonymised data may be made available to other researchers and, if you consent, personal data may also be shared with other researchers.
• Once your data has been anonymised and incorporated into the dataset, it will not be possible to remove it from the project.

8. Will my participation be kept confidential?

Yes. Your identity and any personally identifiable information will remain confidential, with the following exceptions:

• If, during the course of the research, information is disclosed that suggests a risk of serious harm to yourself or others, or evidence of serious misconduct, the researcher may be obliged to break confidentiality and report this to the appropriate authorities or the University of Manchester. Wherever possible, this would be discussed with you beforehand.
• Regulatory authorities or individuals from The University of Manchester may need to access the data for audit and monitoring purposes, where this is relevant to your taking part in the research.

9. What are the possible disadvantages or risks of taking part?

The risks of participating in this study are minimal. Possible disadvantages include:

• The time commitment for using the platform and participating in interviews.
• Discomfort discussing your research practices, if any. You may decline to answer any question at any time.
• Importing papers and notes you already use into a beta-stage platform. We recommend you do not upload confidential, embargoed, or unpublished sensitive material that you would not wish to be processed by a research tool.

10. What are the possible benefits of taking part?

There is no guaranteed direct benefit to taking part, but you may benefit from:

• Free early access to the MINERVA platform during its private beta.
• The opportunity to influence the design and direction of a research tool intended for the academic community.
• Receiving (optionally, with your consent) a summary of the study's findings.

11. Payment and Reimbursement

No payment will be offered for participation in this study. Reasonable travel expenses, if any, will be reimbursed upon request.

12. What happens if I do not want to take part, or if I change my mind?

Your participation is entirely voluntary. You are free to withdraw at any time, without giving a reason and without any detriment to yourself. To withdraw, simply contact the research team.

Please note. Once your data has been anonymised and forms part of the dataset, it will no longer be possible to identify and remove your individual contribution. You may withdraw at any time before this anonymisation step.

13. Data Protection. Privacy Notice for Research Participants

The University of Manchester, as Data Controller for this project, processes personal data for the purposes of research under UK GDPR Article 6(1)(e), the "performance of a task carried out in the public interest", and, for special category data, Article 9(2)(j), "scientific research purposes".

The personal data we will collect includes your name, contact email, audio or video recordings, and your responses during interviews and surveys.

We will keep identifiable personal data only for as long as necessary to conduct the research, and anonymised data may be retained indefinitely for scientific and archival purposes. Identifiable data will be securely destroyed at the end of the project, unless you have consented to being contacted about future research projects, or to receiving a summary of findings.

For more information about how The University of Manchester processes personal data for research, please see the University's Privacy Notice for Research Participants: University of Manchester Privacy Notice for Research Participants.