The ICS is fortunate to have many productive committee members from varied disciplines. Ideas are generated at every turn. In order to best serve the academic endeavours within the organisation, the ICS would like to facilitate centralised coordination of committee educational and academic work.
This paper specifies the procedure which should be followed in order to propose and produce a committee paper/report relevant to ICS expertise. Working /Committee groups that wish to produce a paper on behalf of the ICS should also adhere to the process specified in this document.
The end result of the endeavour could be one of the following but is not limited to a
• Paper
• Report
• Factsheet for professionals or patients
• Leaflet
• Chapter in a book
White Papers, Standardisation Reports, Consensus Papers/Guidelines and Education Modules are excluded from this section.
For the purposes of this procedure the production will be referred to as “paper”
The final product should:
• Have a clear outlined topic and learning objective.
• Have a clear defined specific topic to be presented/researched.
• If applicable, the final paper should be published in Continence, or otherwise have a plan for dissemination and reaching target groups. If the paper is not to be published in Continence then this should be indicated in the proposal.
In addition, in order to preserve the integrity of the peer review process of the ICS Journal Continence while allowing fast track publishing of ICS content, the content should be reviewed and approved by any relevant ICS Committees, the ICS Board of Trustees, and 3-4 separate peer reviewers who are not part of the working group.
Creation of Working/Committees
Please follow the SOP for creation of a working group here.
Disclosure and sponsorship guidelines
Please follow the ICS SOP for Disclosure and sponsorship when creating content here
General Information
- The ICS Board of Trustees will not provide financial support for face to face meetings of any group preparing content but will consider budget proposals with economy travel for videoing the content if it is relevant to prepare the content for online viewing.
- The ICS office will assist with setting up a forum for the group to exchange ideas and content for review. The office can also provide support for teleconferences or WebEx meetings, upon approval of a budget request.
- Normally, from its inception, a committee paper should take no longer than 6 months to prepare.
- ICS standard terminology should be used throughout.
Committee project creation procedure
| Stage |
Action |
Comment |
| Proposal Stage |
Creation of committee/working group/individual to prepare proposal. |
This can be a committee that has decided to prepare a paper or a group of ICS members. |
| Proposal Stage |
Proposal is sent to ICS office. Proposal format is according to the ICS Content Proposal Form Budget and proposal is sent to ICS office. The proposal should explain the need for the paper in no more than 2 pages specifying aims and objectives, learning outcomes, author expertise, target audience and requirement for content. Budget will only cover the costs of filming and editing costs. Budget can be prepared in conjunction with the ICS Office who can assist with the best way to record. The group should indicate 3-4 independent reviewers or ask for assignment. These reviewers are notified that they have been selected by the office. |
The ICS Office will ensure no overlap with other working groups and will advise the appropriate members should this be the case. The ICS office will notify the New Project Proposal group which is made up of all ICS Committee Chairs, and the Board of Trustees. Any budget request to be approved by Board of Trustees. Feedback may be given at this early stage. The office may propose additional contributors for the project. The Board of Trustees are also to indicate whether any other Society is to be informed of the paper where Memorandum of Understandings exist. At this stage the Board can also suggest whether this paper requires a formal call to the membership for the creation of a working group. |
| Preparatory Stage |
Working group prepares content and where relevant reviews the literature and prepares the manuscript. Where relevant a DELPHI system and ‘PRISMA -checklist/guidelines’ should be used. |
Office will assist with creating online fora for easy discussion and monitoring/chasing if required. |
| Content Review Stage |
Manuscript is sent to the 3-4 independent ICS experts as well as the appropriate Committees. The independent reviewers are to provide constructive feedback to the authors. This feedback will need to be seriously considered and incorporated into the manuscript where appropriate. |
The experts should respond within 3 weeks with appropriate feedback. |
| Final Review Stage |
The final revised manuscript and slide set are sent to the Education, Standardisation Steering Committee, and any relevant ICS Committee. It should be noted that the Education and Standardisation committees are not commenting on the content of the module but are reviewing for educational value and terminology adherence. |
These Committees should respond within 2 weeks. |
| Sign off |
The Board of Trustees are to have final review and sign off. |
The Board of Trustees should sign off within 1 week or advise of any final adjustments needed. |
| Publication Stage |
Once approved by the Board of Trustees the paper can be sent for publication in the ICS Journal Continence. |
Article submitted to Continence should clearly reference International Continence Society (ICS) and the Committee involved in the creation of the paper followed by the authors. |
| Implementation Stage |
Once completed the ICS office will disseminate the content via the ICS website, Institute, social media and other outlets. |
|
Standard text for title of report for submission to Continence.
• [Title]: A Report from the XXXX Committee of the International Continence Society
• [Title]: A Report from the XXXX Working Group of the International Continence Society
• An International Continence Society (ICS)/ (INSERT SOCIETY HERE) joint report on [Title]
• International Continence Society Guidelines on [Title]