The below points are to help you understand your direct responsibilities as a Working Group (WG) Chair. Please also refer to How To Create a Standardisation Document
Define the co-chair or deputy of the WG at the very beginning and work closely together.
Propose the key question(s) or topics of discussion, together with a strategic plan, to the WG.
Make sure that the composition of the WG is well balanced and that the process is transparent.
Inform the WG about the agreements on the sequence of authors in the final report and publication: the first author should be the person who drafted the manuscript and did the predominant work of writing, usually the WG-Chair, second author: deputy; WG members in alphabetical order or according to input; last author: Standardisation Steering Committee (SSC) chair or predetermined SSC representative.
Use the WG micro-site functions to lead on the development of the paper and monitor the execution of assignments within the assigned timeline.
Check the current ICS terminology (in the ICS-Glossary) to ensure that the most up-to-date terms are being utilised within the document. Terms and definitions already published in the ICS-Glossary can be copied and pasted to the new report, whenever relevant.
Update reports of previously published terminology documents can copied and pasted but each term and definition should be checked once more in the most recently published online ICS-Glossary and corrected accordingly:
- Please indicate each term and definition as 'OLD', 'CHANGED' or 'NEW'
- Please justify changes of 'OLD' definitions with reference(s)
- Please justify 'NEW' definitions with reference(s)
- Please use footnotes for each term or definition when normal or abnormal values have been published and are relevant (please mention these values in the footnote section).
Adhere to evidence-based medicine principles, where appropriate. In case no evidence-based recommendations can be made, mention the reason for inclusion, e.g., expert opinion.
Be responsible for production of a first draft of the report within 12 months.
Keep the document as short as possible; if entire sections have been published in separate terminology reports earlier and no changes have been made, please refer to these reports (with reference) and do not list these terms and definitions again.
Report to the SSC-Chair and ICS-Board Rep (or alternatively, the appointed SSC member when previously predefined) on a regular basis (e.g. every 3 months), ensuring they receive each draft of the paper.
Before the final draft is prepared, cross check the ICS-Glossary for any 'NEW' term or update ('CHANGED').
Be responsible for submission for publication in the ICS Journals and disseminate final paper amongst the working group.
Accompany the submission process, e.g., by adding a table to summarize the number of 'OLD', 'CHANGED' and 'NEW' terms and by completing the conflict-of-interest statements.
The WG Chair is also responsible for completing the copyright transfer agreement for Continence or Continence Reports (Elsevier) as well as the copyright transfer agreement for future translations to different languages (ICS).