1. Research associates are scientists with experience in quantitative data analysis who take responsibility for a particular section of the World Database of Happiness. You keep the collection up-to-date and report periodically on the state of research on this topic.
   
   
2. You commit for periods of 4 years
   
   
3. You will receive a guest appointment at Erasmus University Rotterdam and a related account to the university network from which the database can be assessed all over the world
   
   
4. You will be responsible for a particular section of the World Database of Happiness. Possible sections are:
   • happiness in a particular population, such as the inhabitants of a country or a special public, such as working mothers
   • relations of happiness with particular behaviors, such as work and leisure
   • particular kinds of research, such as natural experiments.
     
     
5. You will be expected to add the available research findings on your topic to the database. The following rules apply:
   • You will only enter research findings reported in scientific publications that are included in the Bibliography of Happiness. This is to avoid duplication of work and to make sure that only publications that contain information about happiness in the sense of the subjective enjoyment of one’s life as a whole are considered.
   • You will follow the notation rules when entering findings in the data system
   • When entering the findings reported in a publication, you will insert all findings relevant to your particular topic and any other findings on happiness. Adding ‘side catch’ data promotes efficiency and database completeness.
   • Entries inserted by external associates will be checked by the home team before appearing on the website.
     
     
6. You will be expected to write a state-of-the-art paper on the basis of the research findings you have entered, typically but not necessarily, with a colleague from the home team as a co-author
   
   
7. As a research associate, your name will be mentioned on the following places of the website:
   • on the list of associated researchers
   • in the banner of the finding report on your topic, together with the names of the scholars who contributed in the past to the gathering of research findings on this topic; e.g. John Jonson 1990-1995, Erica Ericson 2000-2010, Pete Peterson since 2015
   • as the first author of the last ‘findings report’ on your topic that is generated automatically from the database.
   • as the first author of the review paper to be produced at the end of the period.
     
     
8. Your name will remain visible after your term, in the history of collectors on this topic to be mentioned in the header of each findings report.
   
   
9. The home-team will support you in several ways, e.g. by online assistance on request and organizing a workshop on the yearly ISQOLS conference.
   
   
10. You can raise financial support for your additions to the database independently, for example via local sponsoring or grants. Financial support should be mentioned on the website and shared with the home team to help support input control and system maintenance.
    
    
11. You can present the findings on your own website, using links to the sections in the World Database of Happiness. For example: if you run a website on happiness in your country, you can link to the ‘nation report’ available in the World Database of Happiness, such as the nation report ‘Happiness in the Netherlands’.

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