Code of Conduct

The 2025 SDSS-V Collaboration Meeting is a place where everyone can feel free to exchange ideas, collaborate on projects, and discuss scientific results. All members are welcome and respected regardless of race, ethnic origin, religious beliefs, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, or family and socio-economic status or cultural background. Therefore, the SDSS Collaboration will not tolerate harassment, bullying, or persistent unwelcome behavior of one individual or group against another.

Event attendees, both in-person and through remote channels, are required to adhere to the Principles of Operation (PoO) and Publication Policy. Particularly concerning the principles of respect and ethics: “SDSS-V fully endorses the principles of professional conduct articulated in Article VI of the Bylaws of the American Astronomical Society and expects all those associated with the project to adhere to those precepts. Specifically, SDSS-V communications (meetings, phone conferences, email exchanges) are intended to provide an environment that encourages the free expression and exchange of scientific ideas.”

Unacceptable Behavior and Consequences

We will not tolerate any type of violence, harassment, bullying, or attacks towards any of the participants. Violations of this code of ethics may result in formal sanctions. These sanctions may include the following:

• Removal from one or more project and collaboration email lists
• Loss of access to the collaboration wiki pages
• Loss of the privilege of attending project and collaboration telecons
• Loss of the privilege of attending collaboration meetings
• Removal from committees or leadership roles

Furthermore, the committee may be obligated to inform the individual’s home institution about the accusations and its conclusions. In instances of severe misconduct, the Director or ARC BoG Chair may request the individual’s institution to consider removing them from the survey based on their own investigation.

Reporting Incidents

If you have any questions, please email: coins@sdss.org. Contact information to report violations of this code will be provided at the Collaboration Meeting.

More Information

In addition to this Code of Conduct, the Committee On INclusion in SDSS (COINS) has created a list of more informal recommended best practices for the SDSS collaboration.