Criteria for Participation in the ENCODE Consortium via the Analysis Working Group

The ENCODE Analysis Working Group (AWG) is open to all academic, government and private sector scientists interested in participating in an open process to facilitate the comprehensive identification of the functional elements in the human genome sequence, and who agree to the criteria for participation described below.

Criteria for participation in the ENCODE AWG are:
  1. Each participant will inform the NHGRI and ENCODE AWG members about his/her group's analysis plans.

  2. Each participant is expected to contribute significantly to the analysis of ENCODE data, bringing his/her relevant expertise to augment accomplishing the goals of the AWG in a timely manner. For the AWG, examples of relevant expertise include: providing new approaches for the analysis of primary data or for integrative analyses, experience in working with a particular data type that could be included in the AWG analyses and experience in performing related large scale analyses. Participation should include substantial intellectual contributions to the AWG's activities.

  3. Each participant will share data according to the ENCODE Data Release Policy providing for pre-publication release of any analysis results.

  4. Any data used for AWG analyses — either generated by production activities as part of the Consortium or supplied from other activities — must be available in public databases according to the ENCODE Data Release Policy.

  5. Each participant will take part in group activities, including attending periodic workshops to discuss the AWG's progress, and coordinating the publication of research results.

  6. Each participant will agree to work with other members of the AWG and the ENCODE Consortium in a cooperative manner to further the goals of the ENCODE Project.

  7. Each participant will fully disclose all publicly funded algorithms, software source code and experimental methods to the other members of the Consortium for purposes of scientific evaluation, and is strongly encouraged to disseminate this information to the broad scientific community.

  8. Each participant agrees that s/he will not disclose confidential information obtained from other members of the Consortium.

  9. Additional criteria may be added upon recommendations of the NHGRI staff and the ENCODE External Consultants Panel.

  10. Each participant who fulfills these criteria and participates in the integrative analyses performed by the AWG will be recognized as a member of the AWG and will be an author on Consortium manuscripts. Any additional interactions with individual groups along with subsequent publications should be treated as a normal scientific collaboration.

An investigator who is interested in participating in the AWG must apply for ENCODE Consortium membership, specifying interest in the AWG. The application should provide a description (of no more than two pages) of plans for analyses that the applicant proposes to contribute to the AWG, including a discussion of the contribution that will be provided by these analyses. This application, as well as a statement of agreement to abide by the Criteria for Participation listed above, should be sent to ENCODE Program Staff. Items that will be used to evaluate acceptance into the Consortium/AWG are:

  1. A concise description of the analysis expertise, methods and a rationale for how these methods will address the goal of the ENCODE Project to comprehensively identify functional elements.

  2. Evidence that the proposed analysis methods provide a significant contribution to the AWG.

  3. An agreement to abide by the ENCODE Data Release Policy.

  4. An agreement to fully participate in ENCODE AWG activities and abide by the criteria outlined above.

  5. Evidence of funding to conduct the proposed research.

The application will be reviewed by NHGRI staff and the ENCODE ECP to determine whether an investigator will be accepted into the Consortium/AWG. The participation of members will be reviewed yearly by NHGRI staff and the ECP based on past and planned participation.

Any disagreements between participants involved in the AWG on topics related to integrated analysis of ENCODE data, such as authorship on publications or appropriate behavior on the AWG, should be brought to the attention of NHGRI staff by the affected party. First, NHGRI will consult with the affected participants and attempt to mediate these disagreements. If necessary, members of the ENCODE ECP will be enlisted for assistance in mediation. Disagreements that cannot be resolved by mediation will be brought to arbitration. An Arbitration Panel composed of three members will be convened: one designee each from the two affected parties and a third designee with expertise in the relevant area who is chosen by the other two. Decisions by the Arbitration Panel are final.

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Last Reviewed: February 19, 2012