Guidelines for Joint Projects

ATS Board of Directors Approves Guidelines for Joint Projects

The ATS Board of Directors met on November 7-8, 1996 in Parsippany, NJ, and approved a new set of procedural guidelines to standardize the process by which the Society enters collaborative efforts with other professional societies. Over the past five years, the ATS has a growing number of requests to sponsor or endorse scientific or educational endeavors (meetings, workshops, guidelines) of other professional societies. Traditionally, these requests were handled on a case by case basis. However, as the numbers of such requests has grown, it became necessary for the Society to standardize the process in ordle to handle these requests in a fair manner. The guidelines, as approved by the ATS Board of Directors (11/96), are as follows:

Suggested Levels of Participation in Collaborative Efforts with the American Thoracic Society for Projects Initiated by Organizations Other than the ATS

The American Thoracic Society will review requests for participation in collaborative efforts with outside organizations according to the following guidelines:

1. Co-Sponsorship

A. Definition: Co-sponsorship requires full participation by the American Thoracic Society (ATS) in the planning, organization and implementation of the project. As a co-sponsor, the ATS should have the opportunity to:

1) Organize and participate on a joint planning committee (if applicable) and participate in selecting the committee chairperson.

2) The Planning Committee is responsible for planning the project, naming the participants, determining the goals, objectives, timetable, resource allocation.

3) Participate in all meetings, workshops, seminars that are related to the project.

4) Review and comment on any draft documents that are produced as a result of the project.

5) Jointly publish official educational/scientific proceedings of the project (Official Statements, Position Papers, Clinical Guidelines, Workshop Reports, etc.) in their scientific journal.

6) Be identified as a sponsoring organization of the project in all documents.

7) In special circumstances, standing co-sponsorship agreements may be established between the ATS and other professional /scientific societies.

B. Process:

1) Decisions about co-sponsorship must take place when the project is in its early stages and before it has been fully planned.

2) Informal inquiries and recommendations regarding an organization's interest in collaborating with ATS on a particular project should be made by the individual project chairpersons or the appropriate officer of the organization. If collaboration is both desireable and feasible, then an official agreement outlining the nature of the joint relationship will be made by the leadership of the organizations.

3) All requests for co-sponsorship will be referred to the appropriate Assembly or Committee.

4) The Assembly or Committee will appoint an ATS representative who will work with the organization to develop an official proposal to be presented to the Assembly or Committee for review.

5) The ATS representative will be responsible for completing a formal proposal (including budgets) for review by the Assembly or Committee.

6) The Assembly or Committee will forward the proposal to the ATS Program and Budget Committee for final approval. (The Program and Budget Committee will set up a process to handle requests throughout the year).

7) Decisions concerning project financing, organization of meetings, publication of results, must be made by the co-sponsoring organizations

8) ATS members involved in projects of other organizations do not represent the ATS unless a formal agreement between that organization and the ATS has been established. Therefore, ATS members involved in projects of other organizations (or members with an awareness of projects that could be co- sponsored by the ATS) should present a proposal to the appropriate Assembly or Committee for review.

9) If a project is one that involves CME credit, it must follow the guidelines of the ACCME.

10) Projects may require approval by the ATS Board of Directors in special

circumstances.

2. Endorsement

A. Background/Definition: The ATS receives many requests to endorse conferences, recommendations or guidelines that have been developed by professional medical/scientific societies with no official prior input from the ATS. Endorsement implies that the ATS name and logo will be used to promote the activities of these organizations and to enhance the scientific credibility of the sponsoring organization. Therefore, the ATS has developed criteria to guide decisions about ATS endorsement of activities of other organizations:

B. Criteria for Obtaining ATS Endorsement:

1) The requesting organization must have proven reputation in the scientific/medical community.

2) The activities (conferences, recommendations, guidelines) to be endorsed must conform to the standards established for similar ATS activities.

3) There must be a recognized benefit to the ATS.

4) Activities must not be in conflict or duplicate ATS activities.

5) Involvement of ATS members in the planning, development and implementation of the activity is desireable.

C. Process for Organizations Requesting ATS Endorsement

1) Requests should be sent to the ATS Office (Executive Director or ATS President) in New York for consideration.

2) Requests will be forwarded to the appropriate body within the ATS for review, comment, and recommendation.

D. Other Considerations Regarding ATS Endorsement

1) Prior approval by the ATS must be obtained for the use of its name and logo on any activities.

2) The ATS should have access to all activities that it has endorsed.

10/96