OOI Early Career Scientist Collaborative Agreement

All members of the OOI Early Career Scientist (ECS) group are expected to adhere to the following contract. By participating in the OOI ECS group in any capacity, you are agreeing to comply with the following expectations and code of conduct.

Section I: Overall Goals

S1.1 The overall vision of the OOI ECS group is to solidify a team of early career scientists interested in leveraging diverse strengths and expertise to answer challenging scientific questions using ocean observatories data. This team will be referred to as the network.

S1.2 Each OOI ECS network member commits to ongoing communication and collaboration.

S1.3 Anticipated outcomes of this project are: future growth of the network of ECSs, collaborative projects using OOI data, project proposals, presentations and peer-reviewed publications.

Section II: Contributions of Participants

S2.1 For each product (i.e. proposal, project, manuscript), a leadership team will be established.

a. When a project is proposed by the network, a leadership team will be nominated and the ECS will have the opportunity to vote.

b. When a project is developed by a smaller group within the network, leadership will be determined by those members. For the sake of transparency and inclusion, each team will communicate with the network regarding the establishment and progress of the project (see Section V for requirements on communication).

c. The leadership team will determine the scope and direction of the project.

d. The leadership team will assign tasks to team members.

e. The leadership team will outline a model for communication during the project (e.g. email, google docs, etc.).

f. Team members commit to carrying out tasks and communicating via the agreed upon communication model.

g. The leadership team will communicate regularly with the network to ensure that all network members are up to date on the project (see Section V for requirements on communication).

S2.2 Analyses and data generated by the team will be publicly available on appropriate databases and GitHub.

Section III: Authorship, Credit

S3.1 A team member will be considered for authorship by contributing to one or more of the following:

a. Generating and/or contributing to research ideas/questions.

b. Obtaining funding for a project.

c. Performing analyses on data.

d. Writing of a manuscript or portion of a manuscript.

e. Substantial review of a manuscript where one or a combination of the following occurs:

i. Content is added.

ii. Grammar and style are corrected throughout the manuscript.

iii. Reorganization of the manuscript is performed.

S3.2 Authorship will not be granted for the following:

a. Reading a manuscript or proposal but providing no feedback.

b. Being present for discussions about proposals or manuscript, but not contributing research ideas, questions or solutions.

S3.3 Order of authorship will be based on the level of contribution that a team member made. Each team member will track their contributions. In addition, the project’s leadership team will track contributions from team members and assign authorship based on overall contribution to the final product.

S3.4 If there is a conflict over authorship, the leadership team will vote on authorship. If there is no clear order of authorship based on contribution, authorship will be alphabetical.

S3.5 A team member will be permitted to present collaborative research data in a presentation or poster after receiving permission from every author on the project. a. Permission includes the opportunity to review and revise content.

b. Authorship is awarded as stated above.

Section IV: Deliverables and Projects

S4.1 OOI ECS team members are encouraged to develop new collaborations and spin off projects. Team members are also encouraged to notify the whole team for progress. When appropriate, team members are also encouraged to provide other team members an opportunity to join the project.

S4.2 If discoveries are made that require a redirection of the research agenda, the decision will be put to a vote by the leadership team and then the OOI ECS network will be updated.

S4.3 If an OOI ECS team member leaves a project,

a. The team member will retain authorship if s/he still meets authorship guidelines in S3. b. All data analysis will continue to be publicly available on GitHub.

Section V: Communication

S5.1 Draft proposals and manuscripts that have been developed by or on behalf of the whole OOI ECS network will be available for comment from the whole OOI ECS network population prior to submission.

S5.2 Leadership teams will make every effort to communicate progress of projects with the whole OOI ECS team.

S5.3 Main communication will occur via SLACK to ensure inclusion of the whole network.

S5.4 When smaller leadership teams are working on a specific project, communication will occur through email, video conferencing, or a specific thread on the SLACK workspace.

Section VI: Conflict of Interest

S6.1 Collaborators will not benefit financially from research. Financial benefit does not include funds (e.g. summer salary) through granting agencies. If a team member is found to be in violation of ethics, s/he will face removal from the team.

S6.2 If a team member identifies a conflict of interest, the conflict will be reported to the steering committee. The steering committee will determine if there is an ethics violation and will call for a vote from the whole OOI ECS group.

S6.3 Once a formal community of practice is developed, an ethics committee will be established to handle future conflicts of interest.

Section VII: The Future of OOI ECS

S7.1 This agreement will be effective for 2 years (September 1, 2019- September 30, 2021) and will undergo review at the end of the 2 year cycle.

S7.2 If this group is developed into a formal Research Coordinated Network (RCN) or other formally funded membership group, this agreement will be adopted by said group. At the time of adoption, the agreement will be reviewed and updated to reflect the needs of the group. The updated agreement will be voted upon by the steering committee/principal investigators of the group.