SSSC Code of Conduct

The Vera C. Rubin LSST (Legacy Survey of Space and Time) Solar System Science Collaboration (SSSC) is made up of members from around the globe with a diverse set of skills, personalities, perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences. We value the participation and contributions of every member of the SSSC, and we have a shared responsibility in maintaining the SSSC as a positive, inclusive, supportive, and successful community. Accordingly, all SSSC members are expected to abide by the following Code of Conduct.

As members of the SSSC,

We pledge to treat all people with equity and respect, providing a harassment- and bullying-free environment, regardless of sex, sexual orientation and/or gender identity, disability, physical appearance, body size, age, race, nationality, ethnicity, and religion. We will not tolerate racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and other kinds of bias— whether these behaviors are overt or subtle. In particular, sexual language and imagery, sexist, racist, or otherwise exclusionary jokes and statements are not appropriate.

We pledge to respect the work of others by recognizing acknowledgment/citation requests of original authors. As authors, we pledge to be explicit about how we want our own work to be cited or acknowledged.

We acknowledge that including people with a variety of opinions and backgrounds will serve to enrich our collaboration. In particular, discussions and debates will be conducted in a respectful manner, taking proactive measure to ensure that all participants are heard and feel confident that they can express their opinions in accordance with the Code of Conduct.

We pledge to welcome questions and answer them respectfully. We will criticize ideas, not people; striving to model behaviors that encourage productive debate and disagreement.

We pledge to treat our colleagues outside of the SSSC with the same respect as within the SSSC.

We pledge to help the entire SSSC follow the Code of Conduct, and to not remain silent when we see violations of the code of conduct. We will take action when members of our collaboration violate this code, such as talking privately with the person and/or notifying the SSSC co-chairs, SSSC working group leads, and or the LSST Discovery Alliance Science Collaboration Coordinator.

What is Covered by the Code of Conduct

This Code of Conduct covers social misconduct, scientific/ethical misconduct, and violations of the SSSC Publication Policy. This Code of Conduct applies to all SSSC situations and interactions online and offline, in-person meetings, emails, mailing lists, forums, social media, social events associated with an SSSC or Rubin Observatory workshop or conference, group interactions, and one-on-one interactions. The SSSC will not tolerate harassment, bullying, or persistent unwelcome behavior of one individual or group against another. The collaboration has a strong interest in nurturing the careers of junior scientists and protecting their stature and scientific freedom within the SSSC. The Appendix quotes the definition of harassment adopted by the International Astronomical Union, which also applies within the SSSC. The SSSC also endorses the principles of professional conduct articulated in the American Astronomical Society’s Code of Ethics and the American Physical Society’s Ethics Standards. These two documents express the minimal standards of ethical behavior relating to the profession which all SSSC members are expected to follow by agreeing to this Code of Conduct.

SSSC communications (e.g. meetings, virtual or in-person conferences, telecons, slack messages, e-mail listservs) are intended to provide an environment that encourages the free expression and exchange of scientific ideas. It is the responsibility of members of the collaboration to ensure that such discourse is conducted in a professional atmosphere in which all participants are treated with courtesy and respect. Invitations to SSSC workshops, telecons, and communication channels are a privilege extended by the collaboration, not a right of collaboration membership, and any member engaging in unprofessional behavior or unethical conduct places their invitation at risk.

Reporting Concerns About Violations

An individual who wishes to raise a concern about inappropriate behavior or violation of this Code of Conduct can do so by contacting any member of the SSSC leadership they trust, the LSST Discovery Alliance Science Collaboration Coordinator, or any other reporting mechanism established by the SSSC leadership.

Concerns will be treated confidentially unless/until the person raising them agrees to have them communicated further or unless the person contacted is required to report a misconduct allegation by institutional rules or by law. Issues arising under this Code of Conduct will be treated with discretion to the extent practical, but if the complainant wishes to pursue a consideration of formal remedial actions this will necessarily involve some information sharing with relevant members of the SSSC leadership (and in some cases the leadership of other LSST Science Collaborations and the LSST Discovery Alliance Science Collaboration Coordinator).

All requests for formal investigation will be acknowledged within seven days, and complainants will be informed of who is the contact point for their case (if different from the person they contacted) so that they can inquire about the status of their complaint.

Responses and Sanctions for Code of Conduct Violations

In the case of minor infractions to the Code of Conduct, an attempt at informal resolution between the parties involved is the recommended first step. Formal sanctions may be required in the event of serious and/or persistent violations and when minor infractions are reported where an informal resolution is not possible. Any such sanctions will be decided upon by an investigating committee selected by the SSSC Co-Chairs that will be composed of three members of the SSSC leadership (from a subset of the SSSC co-chairs, working group leads, publication coordinators, and early career representatives) omitting any of these individuals who have a conflict of interest. Additionally, a current affiliation at the same current institution as either the source or target of the complaint will be automatically considered as a conflict.

If there are not enough unconflicted members of the SSSC leadership, then relevant representatives of other LSST Science Collaborations and the LSST Discovery Alliance Science Collaboration Coordinator will be asked to serve on the investigating committee by the SSSC Co-Chairs. If the SSSC Co-Chairs are conflicted or involved as either a complainant or respondent, then the LSST Discovery Alliance Science Collaboration Coordinator will take on the responsibilities of the SSSC Co-Chairs to create the investigating committee and follow through with any resulting sanctions.

The investigating committee will first select a chairperson by consensus to lead the committee. This committee will then investigate the alleged violations, communicating with both the person or persons raising concerns and the alleged violator and with other SSSC members or witnesses as necessary. In order to apply sanctions the investigating committee must find the accused has committed the charges by a preponderance of evidence, i.e., it must be more likely true than not true. Sanctions will depend on the severity and persistence of the misconduct.

Sanctions

Possible sanctions for Code of Conduct violations include but are not limited to:

A verbal warning
Removal from one or more of the SSSC’s communication tools
Loss of access to the collaboration resources such as the github repositories
Loss of the privilege of attending collaboration telecons or online meetings
Loss of the privilege of attending in-person collaboration meetings
Removal from committees or leadership roles
Revocation of SSSC Membership

In addition, the investigating committee may have a responsibility to notify the individual’s home institution of the allegations and its findings. The most serious behavior may be beyond the scope and training of the investigating committee to investigate, and in such instances the investigating committee will be available to support the complainant if they choose to report to their own institution or other bodies as appropriate. When considering sanctions, the investigating committee will endeavor to protect the interests of students and postdocs working with the violator if they are not themselves in violation of the Code of Conduct.

Once the investigating committee reaches a decision about the appropriate response, the decision and any sanctions communicated to the full SSSC leadership will be described in a written communication to the individual or individuals being sanctioned and communicated verbally to the complainant and respondent. The written report is intended to ensure clarity of communication, and verbatim posting of this report in a public forum would be considered a violation of the Code of the Conduct. The respondent and the complainant will both have an opportunity to file a written response to the investigating committee decision within seven days. The investigating committee’s decision is not subject to appeal, but the investigating committee reserves the right to change its decision on the basis of new evidence at any time and will notify both parties of any changes.

Research Exclusivity and Ethical Breaches Associated with the Publication of Scientific Research

No individual or group owns a specific research topic. All SSSC members can pursue a paper on any research topic/project of their choosing. Before starting to work together on a project that is intended to lead to a paper, we encourage all SSSC members to clearly establish among potential authors who will be the lead author and to develop a process with their coauthors for determining authorship ordering and mechanisms for settling disagreements among authors. We also encourage all SSSC members to include an author contributions section in papers resulting from SSSC interactions. Concerns regarding a paper, including but not limited to authorship and author ordering, should first be raised directly to the paper’s lead author.

The SSSC leadership will not arbitrate disagreements about authorship order for papers written by SSSC members, but suspected serious ethical violations related to the publication of scientific research (e.g. fabrication of data, plagiarism, usurpation of the first author position on a paper), do constitute Code of Conduct violations that should be reported. Egregious and/or repeat offenses may result in the revocation of SSSC membership.

Meeting Contact Persons

For each in-person or online SSSC meeting (SSSC-sponsored, organized, or funded), such as the LSST Solar System Readiness Sprints or the LSST Solar System Data Sprints, two people will be designated as Meeting Contact Persons. Their role is to support compliance with the meeting’s code of conduct and the SSSC Code of Conduct at the meeting in addition to taking action to resolve harmful situations.

The Meeting Contact Persons are available to meeting participants who are experiencing harmful situations from behavior that violates the meeting code of conduct and/or the SSSC Code of Conduct. Once contacted, the Meeting Contact Person will work together with the participants who consult them to identify options for managing and resolving the situation at the meeting. This includes providing advice and support, and taking action as needed to defuse a harmful situation, up to and including requiring the offender to leave the meeting. Meeting Contact Person decisions are final and not subject to appeal.

Limitations of this Code

In no circumstance does the SSSC Code of Conduct supplant laws or institutional policies or requirements to which members of SSSC or home institutions are subject, including reporting requirements these individuals or entities may have. It is understood that SSSC members may report allegations of violations to home institutions, government agencies, or local authorities for investigation per applicable laws, regulations, and policies.

This Code of Conduct shall not be construed as creating any employer-employee, joint venture, partnership, duty, trust, obligation to pay, or other relationship between SSSC, member institutions, grantors, funding institutions or agencies, home institutions, or members, including SSSC leadership and committees/working groups.

Although the SSSC encourages all members to abide by this Code of Conduct, the SSSC remains a voluntary member body, and members and their affiliated institutions waive any and all claims, liabilities, or damages against SSSC member institutions, grantors, funding institutions or agencies, home institutions, and SSSC members involved in implementing the Code of Conduct arising from the enforcement of, or failure to enforce, this Code of Conduct.

Appendix

Definitions

Complainant: The person who believes a violation of the code of conduct has happened and has brought that matter to the attention of the SSSC leadership.

Respondent: The person who has been accused of a violation of the code of conduct, and is asked to respond to that.

Harassment: Defined below, adapted from the International Astronomical Union (IAU)’s Anti-harassment Guidelines .

In general, harassment is a conduct that exerts unwelcome pressure or intimidation. This conduct includes, but is not limited to: epithets, slurs or negative stereotyping; threatening, intimidating or hostile acts; denigrating jokes and display or circulation of written or graphic material that denigrates or shows hostility or aversion toward an individual or group.

Particularly serious is the sexual harassment that refers to unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.

Because of the wide international nature of science it is important to realize that behavior and language that are welcome/acceptable in one particular cultural environment may be unwelcome/offensive to another. Consequently, individuals must use discretion to ensure that their words and actions communicate respect for others. This is especially important for those in positions of authority because individuals with lower rank or status may be reluctant to express their objections or discomfort regarding unwelcome behavior.

This code of conduct has been adapted from the following resources:

The SSSC Code of Conduct is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. We freely encourage other researchers to reuse and adapt this Code of Conduct.