Planetary Research Cooperative

Code of Conduct

This Code of Conduct for the Planetary Research Cooperative (hereinafter referred to as “the association” or the PRC) outlines the minimum expected commitment and conduct of its members, editors, authors, and reviewers as they work together to advance the goals of the association, which are to foster interactions among planetary scientists and aid researchers in sharing their work with the public. This Code should be adhered to in all forums associated with the PRC, physical and electronic, including in-person and online meetings, discussion boards, and email communications. 

The Planetary Research Cooperative is committed to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone regardless of gender, disability, physical appearance, body size, age, race, religion, or other protected status. We do not tolerate harassment of members or participants in any form. The association expects that all members, authors, and reviewers will abide by this Code of Conduct, creating an environment free from harassment, discrimination, disruption, incivility, or violence of any kind. We expect participants to exercise consideration and respect in their speech and actions and refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior.

A Planetary Research Cooperative member should:

  • Act respectfully and professionally.
  • Treat others with respect and consideration.
  • Participate in discussions, deliberations, and decisions in a courteous, considerate, and collegial manner.
  • Communicate openly and thoughtfully with other members while also being considerate and respectful of differing views and opinions.
  • Comply with any applicable employer policies, and federal, state and local laws.

A Planetary Research Cooperative member should never:

  • Intimidate, harass, abuse, discriminate, or practice derogatory or demeaning writing, speech, or actions against other members.
  • Engage in harmful or discriminatory verbal or written comments or visual images related to a person’s gender, disability, physical appearance, body size, age, or other personal characteristics.
  • Use nudity, sexual images, or stereotyped images in association-run spaces, including but not limited to presentation slides, video backgrounds, or digital communications.
  • Create a sexualized environment.
  • Practice unprofessional, unwelcome, uninvited, or unwanted attention or contact, including in online spaces.
  • Perform acts of physical assault, including unwelcome touching or groping.
  • Make any real or implied threat of physical harm.
  • Make any real or implied threat of professional or financial damage or harm.
  • Retaliate for reporting unacceptable behavior.
  • Falsely report unacceptable behavior.
  • Perform theft of intellectual property, including but not limited to disseminating the contents of an author’s work on social media or other platforms without attribution.

Editors, authors, and reviewers of association-run publications have additional responsibilities. In addition to following the above guidelines for association members, they must:

Reporting: How and to whom to make an incident report

We encourage reporting of issues that cannot be handled by direct feedback. If a Planetary Research Cooperative member, editor, author, or reviewer experiences or witnesses any behavior that violates these policies, they should report the incident to the association’s Board of Directors. If any member of the association, editor, author, or reviewer is being made uncomfortable by another member, editor, author, or reviewer, or notice that someone else is being made uncomfortable, or have any other concerns, they should contact the Board of Directors. If the person responsible is part of the Board of Directors, they will recuse themselves from any involvement with the handling of the incident. The Board of Directors will respond as promptly as they can.

The Planetary Research Cooperative Board of Directors will take all good-faith reports of concern seriously, especially those of harassment. This includes harassment outside our spaces and harassment that took place at any point in time. The Board of Directors reserves the right to exclude people from the association based on their past behavior, including behavior outside spaces run by the association and behavior towards people who are not association members.

All Board members will respect confidentiality requests for the purpose of protecting victims of abuse. Should other methods fail to improve the situation, the Board may publicly name a person about whom harassment complaints were received, or privately warn third parties about them, if doing so is believed to be necessary to increase the safety of association members or the general public. Harassment victims will not be publicly named by the Board of Directors without their affirmative consent.

Consequences: How this Code of Conduct will be enforced

Planetary Research Cooperative members asked to stop any harmful behavior are expected to comply immediately. If a participant engages in harmful behavior that is not remedied when requested, including but not limited to harassment, the Board of Directors may take any action they deem appropriate to prevent further harm and to mitigate existing harm. For significant or repeated harmful behaviors, consequences may include but are not limited to:

  • Revocation of Planetary Research Cooperative membership.
  • Expulsion from all Planetary Research Cooperative spaces.
  • After the conclusion of a harassment investigation, the person(s) in violation may be named to other association members or the general public.
  • Banning from future interactions with association, including publishing in any association-run journals.

Communication of this Code of Conduct

This policy must be agreed to by new members, and membership is contingent upon agreement.