Forum guidelines - please read before posting! ¶
By: Andy Nobes on Jan. 17, 2018, 4:33 p.m.
AuthorAID forum guidelines
The AuthorAID discussion and collaboration forums are intended as a friendly online global community of researchers, where anybody can discuss research communication, funding and collaboration. It was designed with developing country researchers in mind, but we strongly encourage conversation and collaboration across geographic and economic borders.
Your account
All posts on forums.authoraid.info are publicly viewable, but only AuthorAID members can create or respond to posts (or vote in polls). A single-sign on is used so you can log into the forums using your AuthorAID account details – this sometimes means you will be redirected to the main AuthorAID log in page.
Your profile
Your forum profile uses your AuthorAID account name and photo for forum posts. You can also add a custom signature which appears at the bottom of every post. We would suggest you use this space to include more information on your research topic, institution and country (and maybe a link to another profile page).
Email subscription and notifications
If you would like email notifications of new forum replies, please ensure that you tick the two relevant boxes in your profile page:
- Automatically subscribe to topics you create.
- Receive an email notification on new replies on subscribed topics.
Email notifications can be switched on or turned off for individual posts (choose 'unsubscribe' at the top of the post on the website). You can view all your forum subscriptions in your ‘subscriptions’ page.
AuthorAID Discussion topics
We encourage discussion on all topics related to research communication: from the writing and publication of research, to communicating to practitioners, policy makers and the public, to the impact of research on development.
We would also encourage discussion around other factors that are related to research, such as methodology, access to resources, funding, and career opportunities (including opportunities for women researchers). We reserve the right to not approve posts that fall outside the scope of this discussion.
AuthorAID collaboration topics
Collaboration discussion should generally be about working together on research projects (from design, to data collection and analysis to writing and publishing), or applying for funding proposals, sharing research ideas or equipment.
We generally discourage the following types of post:
- Advertisements for commercial products or services
- Journal calls for papers or reviewers, unless they are a). of obvious interest to AuthorAID members AND are from reputable journal publishers
- Unsolicited notices of events or publications unless they are relevant to AuthorAID members.
- Posts that contain, or link to pirated material
- Posts that contain, or link to copyrighted material that is not licensed to publicly share
- Requests to complete surveys (unless you have permission from the AuthorAID team)
- Job postings that are not relevant to AuthorAID members
AuthorAID reserves the right to remove any posts that we consider to be in breach of the above.
General guidelines
Do not post offensive material
This is a forum for academics, researchers and professionals. Therefore, any material which constitutes defamation, harassment, or abuse is strictly prohibited. Material that is sexually or otherwise obscene, racist, or otherwise overly discriminatory is not permitted on these forums. This includes user pictures. Any offensive material will be removed by moderators, and we reserve the right to suspend or delete user accounts if necessary.
Be respectful of your peers
Remain respectful of other members at all times. All posts should be professional and courteous. You are of course free to disagree with your fellow community members and explain your perspective. However, you are not free to attack, degrade, insult, or otherwise belittle other community members.
Please do not 'spam' the forums
Please refrain from repeating similar or identical posts on the same forum, or across different subforums. If you wish to update a topic or add information to a topic, please 'reply' to the original topic rather than creating a new topic. AuthorAID reserves the right to remove duplicate posts.
Andy Nobes
Forum Administrator
Last edited by: Andy Nobes on March 18, 2019, 12:47 p.m., edited 6 times in total.
