Vicus offers one free consultation of 1 hour for each work request that includes one intended submission of one batch of samples. This consultation may include a 45 min meeting booking (online, in person or on the phone) that may extend to 60 min, 1 hour of email communication and/or a combination thereof. Additional free consultations may be provided at the discretion of Vicus. Additional consultations are provided by Vicus at a cost of $150 AUD per hour.

Vicus and Vicus staff are not responsible for the loss or destruction of samples resulting from reasonable mistake and/or unforeseen causes.

Vicus and Vicus staff are not responsible for delays in sample processing or the reporting of results due to unforeseen causes. 

Though we seek the highest possible accuracy and precision, Vicus does not guarantee a particular level of accuracy or precision of results.    

Vicus and Vicus staff are not liable for any loss or damage resulting from or incurred in association with the use or interpretation of results from Vicus.

Vicus and Vicus staff reserve the right to choose, create or alter the approach taken to accurately determine an age for all samples submitted. For example, although single-grain analyses may be requested, it is not an efficient approach for all samples and a multi-grain approach may be taken in some circumstances. All laboratory procedures used will be outlined in detail in the final project report.

For the first presentation and publication of results from the lab at conference proceedings and in scientific journals, Vicus research staff responsible for the work must be included as co-author(s). Vicus staff will contribute writing and interpretation to ensure that descriptions of methods are accurate and that interpretations are consistent with the results and to the method. Vicus research staff will also defend, rectify, or clarify results as needed during publication review processes. The rational for this approach to authorship is to prevent negative reviewer comments and post-publication replies or comments questioning the method, results, or interpretation. 

Ages provided by Vicus will be stored in a secure database hosted by Vicus. These data may be used to inform research into regional-, continental-, and global-scale archaeological, palaeoenvironmental, and methodological questions, and results of those investigations may be written into studies to be published in peer-reviewed academic journals. Clients can choose what level of data is included in the database, with options including:

- Level A – specific spatial data, report, and age

- Level B – buffered spatial data, report, and age

- Level C – buffered spatial data, site type, and age

Clients can choose which level of inclusion into the database they would prefer when reports are delivered. If no response is forthcoming, Level B information will be automatically used.