Creating a Project

This guide walks you through creating a new project in AcaTrove, from filling in basic details to configuring compliance requirements.

Before You Start

Consider the following before creating a project:

• Project type -- Is this a research study, grant proposal, publication, thesis, course, or administrative effort? Your choice shapes the templates and AI suggestions AcaTrove offers.
• Collaborators -- Know who will be working on the project and what level of access they need.
• Compliance -- Determine whether the project requires IRB or IACUC approval before data collection begins.

Step-by-Step Creation

1. Navigate to Work > Projects in the sidebar, or go directly to /projects.
2. Click the New Project button in the upper-right corner.
3. Fill in the required fields:
   • Title -- A clear, descriptive name for the project.
   • Description -- A brief summary of the project's goals and scope.
   • Project Type -- Select from Research, Publication, Grant, Thesis/Dissertation, Course, or Administrative.
4. Configure optional fields:
   • Discipline -- Choose the academic discipline (e.g., Biology, Computer Science, Psychology) to help AcaTrove tailor AI suggestions.
   • Research Phase -- Indicate where the project currently stands: Planning, Data Collection, Analysis, Writing, or Review.
5. Click Create Project to save.

You are taken to the new project's detail page, where you can begin adding tasks, documents, and collaborators.

Project creation form with required and optional fields

Setting Compliance Flags

If your project involves human subjects or animal research, you should enable the appropriate compliance flags during creation or at any time afterward.

• Requires IRB -- Enable this flag if the project involves human subjects research. AcaTrove will surface IRB-related checklists and reminders in your task board.
• Requires IACUC -- Enable this flag if the project involves animal subjects. Similar compliance prompts will appear.

To set these flags:

1. Open the project and navigate to Settings.
2. Under the Compliance section, toggle Requires IRB and/or Requires IACUC.
3. Save your changes.

When a compliance flag is active, AcaTrove adds visual indicators to the project card and can block certain milestones from being marked complete until compliance documentation is uploaded.

Compliance flags section in project settings

Editing Project Settings

After creation, you can modify any project setting from the project's Settings tab:

• Update the title, description, type, discipline, or research phase at any time.
• Archive a project when it is complete. Archived projects remain accessible but are hidden from the default project list.
• Delete a project if it was created in error. Deletion is permanent and removes all associated tasks and collaborator assignments (linked documents are not deleted from your library).

Tips

• Choose the most specific project type available. A grant project gets funder-specific templates; a generic research project does not.
• Set the research phase accurately. AI suggestions are calibrated to your current phase -- planning-phase suggestions focus on design, while writing-phase suggestions focus on structure and citations.
• Enable compliance flags early. Adding them later may require backfilling documentation that could have been tracked from the start.