PAS CODE OF CONDUCT AND ETHICS POLICY

CODE OF CONDUCT

The purpose of this policy is to address the conduct expected of PAS participants and to outline steps that may be taken when conduct does not align with expectations. For purposes of this policy, “participant” is defined as any individual registered attendee, speaker, organizer, staff, sponsor, guest, or exhibitor associated with any official PAS events. The PAS Code of Conduct applies to all PAS activities. A PAS activity includes but is not limited to activities throughout the year preparing for the PAS events or activities published in the PAS Meeting Program guide or similar materials, including social events, or activities taking place in or on a PAS event platform, PAS-contracted venues, or taking place online or via social media (i.e., postings to PAS Facebook, Twitter and similar pages, including meeting hashtags).

Expected Conduct
The PAS is committed to fostering a welcoming environment that is safe, collaborative, and productive for dialogue and discovery for all participants. All who register to participate, attend, speak, sponsor, or exhibit at a PAS event agree to comply with this policy.

PAS expects all participants associated with any official PAS events will adhere to the following principles:

Respect common-sense rules for public behavior, personal interaction, courtesy, and respect for private property.
Be considerate and respectful of differing perspectives during the meeting.
Respect the rules and policies of participating societies, the meeting platform, venues, and hotels.
Comply with all local, state, and federal laws.
PAS prohibits any form of harassment, sexual or otherwise. Accordingly, some behaviors, including but not limited to the following, are specifically prohibited:
Intimidation, stalking, harassment, inappropriate physical or digital contact, unwelcome sexual attention, or discrimination in any form.
Abusive, harassing, or threatening behavior
Verbal/written threats or personal insults

At any PAS events, PAS prohibits the following:

Disruption, including but not limited to solicitation or promotional items, of any presentation, video/text chat, exhibit hall activity, or any other events throughout the meeting is prohibited. All participants must comply with instructions given by the moderator and/or any PAS event staff.
Participants in PAS events are strictly prohibited from screen capturing, recording, photographing, broadcasting, distributing, or unauthorized publication of any sessions, presentations, or materials presented at PAS events. This includes but is not limited to, slides, video or text chat, audio recordings, live digital feeds, or other forms of digital information sharing.
Participants in PAS events are strictly prohibited from transferring, sharing, publishing, or copying login or access credentials, passwords, hyperlinks, or other materials intended for the use of individual access to PAS content.

Participants asked by anyone to stop engaging in hostile or harassing behaviors are expected to comply immediately. This behavior will not be tolerated and may result in immediate expulsion from a session, event, or the PAS Meeting, including future PAS Meetings or other PAS events, either virtual or a held-in-person, and/or deactivation of login credentials or other access mechanisms.

Reporting A Violation
Violations of this Code of Conduct Policy should be reported immediately.

All participants are expected to alert venue security, platform, or PAS personnel of any dangerous situations, violations of this Conduct Policy, or if anyone is in distress as detailed below.

Participants who feel physically unsafe or believe a crime has been committed should contact local police immediately.

To report a Code of Conduct violation, participants may:

Visit Room 706 of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on May 2 – May 6, 2024, 7:00 am – 5:15 pm and/or
Visit the Code of Conduct form, which will collect and promptly relay information confidentially and sensitively, and/or
Call PAS at 346.258.6216.

Complaints may be raised during or after any PAS event. Allegations regarding misconduct by participants are taken very seriously. PAS encourages prompt reporting of violations so immediate action can be taken to address the concern. Reports may not be submitted anonymously as that would preclude adequate follow-up action.

Procedures Regarding Reported Violations:
During the PAS Meeting

Once an allegation is received, the incident will be reviewed promptly by the PAS Executive Director, PAS Meeting Director, and members of a PAS Advisory Group, comprised of the members of the Program Committee Leadership Team.
Based on this initial information, the complainant will be interviewed promptly by the PAS Executive Director and the PAS Meeting Director together. The complainant will be asked to provide his/her preferred resolution.
Note: if any of the above individuals are named in an allegation, they may be excluded from any review actions.
Based on the sole assessment of the PAS Executive Director, PAS Meeting Director, and PAS Advisory Group comprised of the members of the Program Committee Leadership Team, in consultation with legal counsel, as needed, PAS may enact a range of next steps, up to and including immediate expulsion from a session, event, or the PAS Meeting, without prior warning or refund. PAS reserves the right to remove any participant whose social attentions become unwelcome to another and who persists in such attentions after their unwelcome nature has been communicated. PAS also reserves the right to remove any participant who appears inebriated or who engages in conduct that interferes with the ability of other participants to participate in and enjoy the meeting.

After a PAS Event:

If PAS, in its sole determination, concludes the allegation requires further review or scrutiny, the PAS Executive Director, Meeting Director, and an Advisory Group member will raise the complaint with the alleged offender, who will be given a chance to respond.
Other individuals may be contacted to provide information. Participants are expected to cooperate with PAS information gathering related to a reported violation of this Code of Conduct Policy by providing the information requested by PAS that is relevant.
Action will be taken by the PAS Board based on its assessment of the level of misconduct.
PAS may, in its reasonable judgment, refer the allegation to venue or platform security personnel or to the alleged offender’s home institution (Office of Research Integrity or similar), employer, licensing board, or law enforcement for investigation and decision.
If PAS, in its reasonable judgment, determines an individual has violated this Code of Conduct Policy, PAS may bar the individual from participation in future PAS events.
PAS will report on the outcome of any investigation to individuals who have reported a violation of this Code of Conduct Policy.

ACADEMIC ETHICS POLICY

This policy provides guidelines regarding PAS’s expectations as to submissions for presentations at the PAS Meeting regardless of session format. PAS strives to ensure presentations at the PAS Meeting are presented with the utmost ethical conduct and are free from any conflicts of interest. PAS is committed to fostering an environment where all PAS Meeting participants maintain the highest ethical and academic standards and where all conflicts of interest are fully and openly disclosed. PAS will proactively monitor, compare, and analyze submissions to ensure compliance with PAS abstract submission guidelines and this policy. Failure to follow this policy may result in the immediate rejection of such submission.

Submission Guidelines

Without regard to session format, submissions made for presentation at the PAS Meeting should adhere to PAS Meeting Submission Guidelines as posted on the PAS Meeting website.
There is no limit on the number of abstracts submitted by each author, but the submission of multiple, redundant, or highly similar abstracts with only minimal changes in the abstract title or minor changes in data analysis from the same investigator(s) or laboratory is strongly discouraged. Such submissions may result in the rejection of all abstracts that are deemed to be in violation of PAS guidelines; rejection may occur prior to, during, or after review, even if submitted to a different topical.
Previously submitted and rejected abstracts should not be resubmitted with only minimal or no changes. Such submissions may result in rejection prior to, during, or after review. Please note: Previously submitted Scholarly Sessions or Workshops that have been accepted or rejected, may be resubmitted.
Abstracts submitted to PAS 2023 can be resubmitted with updated findings if they have not been published in manuscript form prior to submission to PAS 2024.
Abstracts submitted and/or presented at other Societies’ or national meetings within the 12 months prior to the PAS Meeting may be submitted to the PAS Meeting for consideration.
Without regard to session format, submissions made for presentation at the PAS Meeting should adhere to PAS Meeting Submission Guidelines as posted on the PAS Meeting website.
There is no limit on the number of abstracts submitted by each author, but the submission of multiple, redundant, or highly similar abstracts with only minimal changes in the abstract title or minor changes in data analysis from the same investigator(s) or laboratory is strongly discouraged. Such submissions may result in the rejection of all abstracts that are deemed to be in violation of PAS guidelines; rejection may occur prior to, during, or after review, even if submitted to different topical
Previously submitted and rejected abstracts should not be resubmitted with only minimal or no changes. Such submissions may result in rejection prior to, during, or after Please note: Previously submitted Scholarly Sessions or Workshops that have been accepted or rejected, may be resubmitted.
Abstracts submitted to PAS 2023 can be resubmitted with updated findings if they have not been published in manuscript form prior to submission to PAS 2024.
Abstracts submitted and/or presented at other Societies’ or national meetings within the 12 months prior to the PAS Meeting may be submitted to the PAS Meeting for consideration.
Research published in manuscript form prior to the submission of the abstract is not appropriate and should not be submitted. If data contained in the abstract is published after submission of the abstract, the PAS Office must be notified regardless of timing as soon as publication is recognized. At that time, the Program Committee Chair will make a determination concerning the presentation at the PAS Meeting. Abstracts should not be submitted if there is knowledge and confirmation that this work will be published in an upcoming article prior to the meeting.
Upon submission, the submitting author verifies that all authors have agreed to the submission.
Reviewer scores and comments are confidential and are not available to individuals (including authors) outside of the review process.
The decision of the Program Committee to accept or decline any submission is final.
The assignment of presentation format for accepted submissions (for example, platform, plenary or poster session, poster symposium) is at the sole decision of the PAS Program Committee.
If your submission is accepted, all oral abstract presenters must give permission for their presentations to be recorded and for the recording to be used for academic purposes by Pediatric Academic Societies, Inc. (PAS). This includes authorizing PAS to reproduce any and all video/audio recordings that are made of the participants during this event, without further compensation. The recordings will be made available only to registered participants.

Publication of Submissions

All submissions, if accepted for presentation, will be published in the PAS Program Guide.

Ethical Conduct & Conflict of Interest

Regardless of the session format, PAS expects:

Submissions should be free of plagiarism, and misrepresentation and should align with the standards for research or academic work expressed by the home institution of submitting author(s) or presenter(s).
All authors of submissions must complete and submit Conflict of Interest Disclosures (COI) in accordance with PAS timelines and procedures. The submitting author should alert her/his colleagues about this requirement.
If the submission is accepted for presentation, all authors must attest that they are and the submission is in compliance with the PAS Policy on Academic Ethics Policy and Submission Guidelines.
If the submission is accepted for presentation, all authors must attest whether they have previously been found in violation of the PAS Code of Conduct Policy.
Work submitted for presentation must include an acknowledgment of funding sources of commercial nature and/or consulting or holding of significant equity in a company that could be affected by the results of the study. Even if indicated elsewhere in the submission, this must appear as the last sentence and read “funded by…” and/or “equity in…” if pertinent. Required text is included in character count limits.
The text required by a granting agency acknowledging funding or support is included in submission character count limits.

Reporting Ethical Conduct or Conflict Of Interest Concerns or Violations
Any individual who believes the research, content, information, or data contained in a presentation within the PAS Meeting program:

violates the intellectual property rights of another and/or
was or may be presented without full disclosure of all conflicts of interest by the submitting or presenting party(ies) should file a complaint with the PAS Program Chair by contacting the PAS Office at info@pas-meeting.org or 346.258.6216.

Complaints will be reviewed by the PAS Program Chair in consultation with an ad hoc committee comprised of the PAS Program Committee Chair-elect and up to two relevant subject matter experts drawn from the PAS Program Committee.

Consequences of Violations
Following consultation with the ad hoc advisory committee, the PAS Program Chair will communicate the outcome and decision to the individual(s) who completed the submission. If a violation of this policy is found, actions taken against such individual(s) may include:

Rejection of the submission
First offense, minor: Warning with a reminder of submission guidelines and policy requirements
First offense, major: Prohibited from submission, presentation, or attendance for the three PAS Meetings following violation
Second offense: Prohibited from submission, presentation, or attendance for the three PAS Meetings following violation

All decisions of the ad hoc advisory committee shall be final.

Notwithstanding the above, if PAS, in its reasonable judgment, determines an individual has violated this policy in an egregious or flagrant manner, PAS may, without regard to the above tiers, bar the individual from participating of any kind in any future PAS Meetings. PAS reserves the right to immediately remove:

any Meeting participant whose actions violate this policy
any content or materials related to violations of this policy
and to cancel any related presentations if PAS, in its reasonable judgment, deems such presentations a risk to its ability to conduct a meeting free of ethical violations or conflicts of interest.

NOTE: For information regarding the conduct expected of attendees of the PAS Meeting, please refer to the PAS Meeting Participant Code of Conduct Policy.