Code of Conduct
The standards of ethics, integrity, and behaviour expected in all IPGS settings.
Draft version 1.0 · to be ratified by the IPGS Board at the 2026 Founding Meeting; subsequent revisions every three years.
Scope
This Code applies to all IPGS members, staff, visiting scholars, grantees, reviewers, and participants in Society-organised events — whether in person or virtual. Member institutions remain subject to their own institutional policies, which take precedence where more stringent.
1. Research integrity
- Conduct research with honesty, rigour, and reproducibility.
- Declare all conflicts of interest in reviews, authorship discussions, and funding applications.
- Adhere to the open-science mandate: deposit data, publish open-access, share protocols.
- Comply with phytosanitary and germplasm-transfer regulations in every jurisdiction involved.
2. Authorship
- Follow the ICMJE/CRediT criteria; authorship is earned by substantive contribution.
- Discuss and agree author order before manuscript submission.
- Credit early-career and Global-South collaborators according to contribution — not seniority.
3. Data and intellectual property
- Joint outputs default to CC-BY 4.0.
- Germplasm is shared under standard Material Transfer Agreements.
- Legitimate embargoes > 12 months require written Board approval.
4. Respectful conduct
IPGS provides a respectful environment free from harassment, discrimination, and intimidation. Unacceptable conduct includes — but is not limited to — offensive comments on protected characteristics, unwanted physical contact, persistent interruption of speakers, misuse of images or recordings, and retaliation against complainants or witnesses.
5. Reporting
Concerns about breaches of this Code may be raised through one of two routes:
- Named report to the IPGS Secretariat at chfsfao@mail.hzau.edu.cn.
- Anonymous report via the Society's confidential web form (to be launched alongside the Member Portal).
All reports are handled confidentially by a designated Conduct Panel of at least three Board members, one of whom is an Early Career Representative. The Panel may escalate to the complainant's home institution where appropriate, subject to the complainant's consent unless serious harm is at issue.
6. Consequences
Consequences are proportionate to the severity of the breach and may include: private warning, public warning, temporary suspension of IPGS privileges, permanent exclusion from IPGS activities, revocation of IPGS-affiliated designations on publications, and referral to the relevant member institution.
7. Review
This Code is reviewed every three years by the Board, with open consultation of the membership.