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to IMGT/CLL-DB

THE
INTERNATIONAL
IMMUNOGENETICS
INFORMATION SYSTEM®

IMGT/CLL-DB Group Bylaws


Objectives and structure

The IMGT/CLL-DB group is a joint academic initiative started by IMGT® and the IgCLL group, devoid of any commercial interest. It was formed with the primary aim of creating, maintaining, and developing a database holding primary IG sequences associated with biological and clinical data for patients with CLL attended at academic institutions, to foster high-quality collaborative research on CLL and related disorders.

The IMGT/CLL-DB group is composed by the founders (Chrysoula Belessi, Nicholas Chiorazzi Frédéric Davi, Paolo Ghia, Marie-Paule Lefranc, Richard Rosenquist, Kostas Stamatopoulos), the IMGT/CLL-DB developers and curators (Xavier Brochet, Nikos Darzentas, Patrice Duroux, Véronique Giudicelli, Anastasia Hadzidimitriou) and the members.

The main outlet for the IMGT/CLL-DB is a purpose-built interactive website providing all data, information and knowledge to members in a user-friendly yet robust way.

Management

The IMGT/CLL-DB group is managed by the Steering Committee that supervises quality of research, transparency of decisions and fairness of collaboration. The Steering Committee is composed of the founders.

The Steering Committee appoints the Technical Committee that supervises quality of submitted data and reports to the Steering Committee.

The Steering Committee approves new members and decides on membership renewal.

The Steering Committee meets regularly, providing minutes of decisions for circulation among members.

A General Assembly of the members will be held annually.

The IMGT/CLL-DB is managed by IMGT®, the International ImMunoGeneTics information system® (http://www.imgt.org). The IMGT/CLL-DB group will ensure the sustainability of the DB.

The IMGT/CLL-DB is composed of infrastructure and data:

(i) the infrastructure includes hardware and software tools, such as the IMGT/V-QUEST and IMGT/JunctionAnalysis tools, and is a property of CNRS, France. Any upcoming technological advances, in the form of software that will be developed and used for data analysis needs to be approved by the Steering Committee before being added to IMGT/CLL-DB. In order to ensure flexibility as well as protect the developer´s rights, the system will have a modular structure and the software module will remain a property of the developer and/or the respective Institution;

(ii) submitted data are the property of the IMGT/CLL-DB group. Great care is taken to safeguard the privacy and integrity of the data, in addition to very strict quality controls.

Membership

Any scientist working on CLL and willing to: (1) share IG sequence data, biological and clinically relevant information and biological material; and, (2) be involved in collaborative projects may apply for membership.

Membership is decided by the Steering Committee based on the following eligibility criteria: (i) proof of good laboratory practice (Technical Questionnaire); and, (ii) provision of at least 200 approved, unique IGHV-IGHD-IGHJ sequences from patients with CLL.

Initial membership is for a three-year term. Membership may be renewed on a three-year basis for members showing active participation, assessed by the Steering Committee - e.g. (i) submission of new sequences; (ii) provision and/or update of clinical information. If a member chooses to withdraw or if membership is not renewed, the submitted data will remain in the IMGT/CLL-DB while data from other members retrieved from the IMGT/CLL-DB will have to be destroyed.

Member rights and obligations

Members will benefit from the standardized analyses and expert curation and annotation of their submitted data by the Technical Committee.

Members will have full rights in accessing the entire IG sequence dataset of the IMGT/CLL-DB.

Access to the DB is personalized and will remain the responsibility of each member. Any misbehavior will be sanctioned by restricting access.

Members are requested to respond promptly to all queries from the Steering and Technical Committees in order to ensure accuracy and homogeneity of submitted data. Failure to do so will be sanctioned by restricting access.

All analyses of IG sequence data available in the IMGT/CLL-DB must be performed in compliance with the aims and standards of the group. Members agree to comply with the IMGT Scientific Chart rules (http://www.imgt.org/textes/IMGTScientificChart).

Usage of the IMGT/CLL-DB is restricted to purposes approved by the Steering Committee is not allowed.

Members are encouraged to propose collaborative projects fulfilling the objectives of the IMGT/CLL-DB group. All proposals must be submitted to the Steering Committee who will grant approval based on novelty, originality and the level of collaboration between members.

Approved projects will be circulated within the whole group, although they do not need to involve all members at all times.

All non-IG data present in the IMGT/CLL-DB will be made available to interested members upon request and after approval by the Steering Committee, based on scientific relevance.

Publication and authorship guidelines

The Steering Committee should be informed of any work performed using the IMGT/CLL-DB that leads to a potential publication and/or scientific communication of any sort.

Pre-submission drafts need to be reviewed by the Steering Committee for scientific content, fairness of research and protection of member rights, including authorship. Approval is required before submission for publication and/or scientific communication of any sort. Authors are invited to submit their scientific communications or publications for review by the Steering Committee at least 3 or 10 days, respectively, before the planned submission to a scientific meeting or scientific journal.

Authorship will be decided based on the level of scientific involvement in the project. This guideline also extends to members of the Steering and Technical Committees, who will not, by default, appear as co-authors in scientific publications and/or communications stemming from usage of the IMGT/CLL-DB. Authorship by members of the Steering and Technical Committees will require active involvement in the relevant project or when the creation of the IMGT/CLL-DB infrastructure is critical for the success of the project.

Acknowledgements

The IMGT should be acknowledged by members of the IMGT/CLL-DB group in all relevant publications, citing the two following papers or subsequent versions and/or updates.

Brochet, X., Lefranc, M.-P. and Giudicelli, V.
IMGT/V-QUEST: the highly customized and integrated system for IG and TR standardized V-J and V-D-J sequence analysis.
Nucl. Acids Res, 36, W503-508 (2008). PMID: 18503082

Lefranc, M.-P., Giudicelli, V., Ginestoux, C., Jabado-Michaloud, J., Folch, G., Bellahcene, F., Wu, Y., Gemrot, E., Brochet, X., Lane, J., Regnier, L., Ehrenmann, F., Lefranc, G. and Duroux, P.
IMGT®, the international ImMunoGeneTics information system®.
Nucl. Acids Res, 37, D1006-D1012 (2009).doi:10.1093/nar/gkn838. PMID: 18978023

The participation in the IMGT/CLL-DB group should be evident in the Acknowledgments section of all relevant publications.

Financial support and funding

Funding of the IMGT/CLL-DB is the responsibility of the Steering Committee.

Individual scientific projects must be financially supported by the members involved themselves.