| 1. |
The name of the Society will be “International Society for Plasmid Biology” also known as the “International Society for Plasmid Biology and other Mobile Genetic Elements” or ISPB. |
| 2. |
The purpose of the Society will be to promote the study of plasmids and other mobile genetic elements.
- The Society will engage in collective activities that increase the awareness and understanding of the importance of these genetic elements both internally in the scientific community and more generally externally in the public arena.
- The Society will help to demonstrate the applications of plasmid biology and the study of mobile genetic elements and increase the support for this research.
- The Society will promote the importance of retaining the study of mobile genetic elements in undergraduate teaching programs.
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| 3. |
The Society will provide a forum for scientists from all countries to communicate openly about their research. It will provide the continuity between International Plasmid Biology Conferences organized biennially. The Society will add legitimacy to the biennial meetings and help funding from outside sources. |
| 4. |
The Society will provide a mechanism whereby information relevant to the Plasmid Biology Community can be disseminated easily. |
| 5. |
The Society will allow members of the Society to voice opinions and respond to appropriate initiatives collectively rather than as individuals. |
| 6. |
The Society will provide a focus for the Plasmid Biology Community to work with sequence databases to ensure the highest standard of quality control over annotation. |
| 7. |
The Officers of the Society will be:
- President
- Secretary
- Treasurer (who will also be responsible for membership)
- Chair of the Meeting Committee
The Term of Office for each post will be two years. Candidates must be nominated and seconded by members of the Society and a ballot will be taken at each ISPB Conference. The Term of Office will run from the end of the Plasmid Biology Conference to the end of the next one so that for example, the President will preside over the meeting that comes at the end of his/her Term of Office. |
| 8. |
Committee will be elected that represents the different areas of interest of the Society to ensure that conferences are representative of the whole field. The areas to be covered by members of the Committee will include: Applied Aspects; Bioinformatics; Ecology; Evolution; Genomics; Medical and Veterinary Aspects; Mobile Genetic Elements; Regulation; Replication; Stable Inheritance; Systems Biology; Transfer. |
| 9. |
Working groups will be set up as necessary. There will be a standing group on Sequence Annotation that will help in the development of new databases and in improvement of existing databases. |
| 10. |
All attendees of ISPB conferences are members of the Society. Membership does not expire. Withdrawal from Society membership requires a communication by the retiring member to the Society’s Secretary. Others can join the Society without a need to attend a meeting, subject to approval by the Officers of the Society. The membership fee will be 20GBP or its equivalent. All members are requested to communicate changes in affiliation or E-mail addresses to the Society Secretary to keep the membership database up to date. |
| 11. |
The Society will maintain a bank account in the UK in GBP with a Charitable Status. The proceeds from each Plasmid Biology Meeting will be added to the Society funds. These will be available to the organizers of the next conference in order to facilitate the process and to support the attendance of younger scientists. Use of these funds must be approved by the Committee in advance of any expenditure. |
| 12. |
The Society will publish an electronic newsletter in a form that is yet to be decided that will keep members up to date with what is happening in the community. |
| 13. |
Relationship with the Elsevier journal "Plasmid":
The journal Plasmid will be designated the journal of the International Society for Plasmid Biology on the following basis.
- It will publish the Abstracts of the Plasmid Biology Conferences as well as reviews that may arise by agreement from the Conference.
- Members of the Society receive discounted personal subscriptions.
- The journal will provide some sponsorship for the Plasmid Biology Conferences.
- The journal will have a standing advertisement for the ISPB as part of its cover material.
- The PBS web page will advertise Plasmid and have a link to Science Direct. The Plasmid Society will email Table of Contents of each issue of Plasmid to ISPB members as it comes out.
- The ISPB will provide Elsevier with a list of those members who opt into a mailing list for promotion purposes. This information will only be used for promoting Plasmid.
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