How to create a working group

Unpublished

The creation of a working group or committee should follow the guidance below. Please refer to these points before any ICS content is prepared.

The group should decide if there are any other relevant societies that could be considered for working collaboratively to create the content. If there are other societies that should be considered their inclusion or exclusion should be outlined in the proposal document and approved by the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees may suggest societies for collaboration.

The composition of the working group is identified by the working group chair/committee chair/Standardisation Steering Committee. Working groups should be multidisciplinary, multinational and represent all appropriate stakeholders (including, e.g., non-clinicians and others as appropriate). However, if the proposed subject of the publication is clearly meant for one discipline then single discipline working groups are acceptable.
The WG should generally not include more than 12 members. However, there could be more members for a joint report with other societies, or a report on behalf of other societies.

The Selection of WG members should follow a transparent process, which is recorded and publicly available.
Applications are made by a formal call to the ICS membership (and simultaneously with any other external societies involved) allowing members sufficient time to receive the notifications, consider and respond. Applications are submitted by an email of expression of interest explaining why they wish to be on the working group and what expertise they bring. CV and recent publications are to be sent with the application.
Applications are then scored individually and the overall collated scores are reviewed (via a Zoom call) and the working group chair and members are selected.

The Chair and all working group members must be - or agree to become – a valid ICS member. The ICS views working group members as extensions of committees. They must therefore abide by the ICS Bylaws concerning this area. If the WG member was a member in the past they are expected to renew their membership.
Non ICS members may, at times, be asked to be part of a working group as experts or representatives of specific stakeholders. However, the lead author must justify reason for the individual’s non-membership and take responsibility for non-ICS member contributions. In the case of joint content with other Societies the Chair or WG members will be provided access to the ICS forums but are not required to pay for ICS membership.

Each group will choose a lead author for the final journal submission process. This should be agreed at the outset. Sequence of authors: first author: WG-Chair; second author: deputy; WG members in alphabetical order or according to input; last author: SSC chair or predetermined SSC representative.
It is also recommended that the author list order is discussed at the outset. This is normally proposed by the lead author and is generally decided either by level of contribution of the authors or listed in alphabetical order. The author list is then finalised prior to submission for publication. Any amends to the order must be communicated to all authors prior to publication.
All members of the group are expected to contribute substantively and will be jointly responsible for the entire content, with the exception of taking responsibility for non-ICS member author content as noted above. Level of productivity is reviewed by the lead author and/or committee/working group and ICS Bylaw procedures are to be followed should the productivity of an individual need to be reviewed with the aim of removing them from the working group.
It is recommended that applicants are involved in no more than 3 working groups or committees.

Once a WG is set up, the Continence Journal Editor is advised that a publication is under construction.
A typical lifespan for an ad hoc WG will maximally be 36 months depending on the content. If the WG fails to be productive the authorising committee can move to dissolve the WG.
After publication, the WG will be dissolved.