Maxillofacial Trainees Research Collaborative Constitution

1.Name

a. The name of the group shall be:

b. ‘The Maxillofacial Trainee Research Collaborative’ hereafter referred to as ‘MTReC’

2. Aim

a. ‘To develop and promote trainee led and delivered collaborative research in maxillofacial surgery in the United Kingdom’.

3. Objectives

a. The group will fulfil the aim by:

i. Providing a network to support research

ii. Undertaking collaborative audit and research

iii. Disseminating findings in high quality peer reviewed journals and meetings

iv. Fostering the concept of data sharing and collaboration

4. Membership

a. Membership of MTReC shall take two forms:

b. MTReC Full Member

i. Full membership is open to any clinician working as a maxillofacial trainee from the time of undertaking a second degree (NTN, trust grade post or fellow, up until the time of taking a consultant post) in the United Kingdom who is interested in contributing to the collaborative to achieve its aims and is willing to abide by the rules of the group.

ii. MTReC full members shall have one vote at general meetings.

c. Associate membership

i. Associate membership is open to any person in good standing who is interested in contributing to the collaborative to achieve its aims and is willing to abide by the rules of the group.

This may include medical or dental students, foundation year doctors, dental core trainees, senior house officer (or equivalent grades) core surgical trainees, trainees from other medical or surgical specialties and allied health professionals.

d. MTReC contributor status

i. Contributor status is open to any associate or full member who

is directly involved in the design, recruitment, management or analysis of any study.

ii. MTReC contributor status will be recorded by the MTReC committee data manager. MTReC contributors should hold current Good Clinical Practice accreditation.

e. Advisory roles

i. Consultants and allied professionals can be involved in an advisory capacity at any stage of a project and it is recognised that their input and guidance is valuable. They are not eligible to become full or associate members and do not have voting rights.

f. Registration and termination of membership

i.The MTReC committee may, by resolution passed at a meeting

thereof, terminate or suspend the membership of any member

if his/her conduct is prejudicial to the interests and objectives of

MTReC, provided that the individual member shall have the right to be heard by the General Committee before the final decision is made. There shall be a right of appeal to an independent arbitrator

appointed by mutual agreement.

5. Management & committee membership

a. The MTReC shall be administered by a committee of not less than three (3) people.

b. Committee Members must be UK trainees in good standing.

c. The officers of the MTREC Committee shall be:

i. MTReC Chair person (or in certain circumstances 2 co-chairs)

1.This position is an annual appointment (January to January)

2.The post of MTREC chair cannot be held for more than two consecutive (1 year) terms

3.The MTReC chair must be a trainee in a UK national programme.

4. The MTReC chair is responsible for upholding the constitution

of the collaborative and representing the best interests of the

members.

5.The MTReC chair or their nominated deputy, will, for the duration of their term only, represent the MTREC at any national body.

6.MTREC study leads

Any member who has set up or is the nominated lead organiser of any study is required to sit on the MTREC committee until the publication of the main paper from their study.

7. MTREC data manager

This committee member will be responsible for the collation, storage and dissemination of collaborative study data when directed by the study steering group.

8. Such other officers the collaborative shall deem necessary at the meeting.

6. Running the Committee

a. The Committee will meet twice a year.

b. Committee members must be present for the Management Committee meeting to take place.

c. Voting at Management Committee meetings shall be by

secret ballot. If there is a tied vote then the chairperson shall have a second vote.

d. The MTReC chairperson is elected from within the MTReC by committee members by secret ballot following self nomination.

e.This ballot is only valid if all the members of the committee are informed of the election and >50% of committee members return a vote.

7. Publication and ownership of data

a. All actions of the MTReC committee and members must be in line with Good Clinical Practice and data protection act guidelines.

b. The authorship policy should be defined prior to starting any project by the study steering committee.

c. The lead authors must have played a key role in data analysis or manuscript preparation in line with ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) guidelines (www.icmje.org).

d. The manuscript must describe the role of each author.

e. By default the MTReC is the final (senior) author

g. All collaborators will be cited alphabetically in the publication.

This will be up to 2 per unit however additional names for a unit may be included at the discretion of the MTReC chair (unless already specified by the study steering group).

h. When presenting the results of any MTReC study the presenter is responsible for including a complete and up to date acknowledgement slide. This slide must be maintained by the study lead(s) of each project.

i. Once the main paper has been published for each project, collaborative contributors will have access to the dataset from

the day of publication of the first study paper.

j. The variables collected (and thus available for analysis) for each study will be made available on the MTReC website.

k. Access to the dataset will be at the discretion of the MTReC committee. Interested parties must apply in writing, stipulating the plan for analysis and dissemination of findings. A request for access may be declined if the proposal lacks clarity or a satisfactory methodology however the MTReC committee must report at the next general meeting the reasons for any declined access and are accountable for their decision.

l. Any published or presented analysis of MTReC data must include the MTReC contributors as senior author as described previously.

m. The practice of the MTReC should always be to submit manuscripts aiming for the most relevant journal with the highest impact factor. The final decision however rests with the study lead for each project.

8.Committee Meetings

a. The committee shall meet twice each year.

b. It is the responsibility of the MTReC chair to arrange the time and place of these meetings.

c. The quorum for a meeting shall be greater than 50% of committee members.

d. The committee shall be accountable to MTReC members at all times.

e. All meetings must be minuted and available to any interested

member of the MTREC.

f. These minutes should be published within two weeks on the MTREC website.

g. All committee members shall be given at least seven (7) days’ notice of a meeting unless it is deemed an emergency meeting.

9.General Meeting of the MTReC

a. The committee shall aim to arrange at least one general meeting each year, the purpose of this meeting is for the committee to account for its actions and consider the development of new projects according to the group’s objectives.

b. The Chair of the group shall normally chair and coordinate

these meetings.

c. Invitations to general meetings should be sent via the MTReC email list and advertised on the MTReC website and via the MTReC and BAOMS social media outlets.

The business of the meeting shall include:

i. Receiving a report from the Chairperson of the group’s activities over the year including a summary of requested access to any MTREC dataset.

ii. Appointing a new Management Committee and considering any other matter as may be appropriate at such a meeting.

10. Selection of studies

a.

i. Applications for new MTReC projects can be made by any trainee. Only original research ideas will be considered. A standard proforma to allow this will be available to all interested parties on the MTReC website. Applications will be opened periodically, where capacity and succession planning allow. Applications will be considered by the committee at a General Meeting.

ii. All applications will receive feedback on their submission, regardless the outcome.

11. Alteration of the Constitution

a. Proposals for amendments to this constitution must be delivered to the MTReC chair. The MTReC chair in conjunction

with all other officers shall then decide on the date of a forum meeting to discuss such proposals, giving at least four weeks (28 days) clear notice.

b. Any changes to this constitution must be agreed by at least two thirds of those members present and voting at any general meeting.

11.Adoption of the Constitution

a. This constitution was introduced in March 2017 to take immediate effect, and will be voted upon at the next MTReC general meeting.


The Maxillofacial Trainee Research Collaborative

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