Code of Conduct Guidelines

DataCite is committed to ensuring that all of our community activities and interactions are welcoming, productive, safe, and free of harassment and discrimination; and that they foster open dialogue, encourage the exchange of ideas, and promote equal opportunities and treatment for all. All DataCite community members are expected to treat others with respect and consideration, and we kindly ask them to alert DataCite staff in cases where a situation is inappropriate or someone is in distress.

The guidelines stated here apply to all attendees, speakers, staff, contractors, volunteers, partners, members, users, and guests who engage in DataCite community activities and interactions, including:

• online and in-person events and interactions, including meetings, webinars, and consultations
• GitHub repositories including code, issues, and comments
• comments and suggestions in online documents
• written communications via email, our support desk, and social media channels

We thank the community for your help in keeping DataCite community activities and interactions an open, welcoming, respectful, and friendly space for all participants.

The following represent types of behaviors that are not acceptable during DataCite community activities and interactions:

• Engaging in biased, demeaning, intimidating, coercive, harassing, or hostile conduct or commentary—whether seriously or in jest—based on race, gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, profession, national origin, ethnicity, or religion.
• Engaging in personal attacks of any kind.
• Retaliation against reporting of conduct concerns or assisting in conflict resolution.
• Disruption of events (e.g., “Zoom-bombing”) or engaging in harm or threats of harm of any kind.
• Engaging in any of the above behaviors on written communication and online sites

Participants that are asked to stop any misconduct are expected to comply immediately. Anyone violating this Code of Conduct will be expelled from the activity or interaction and may be blocked from participating in future activities and interactions.

Online Events

DataCite enforces specific policies to maintain a secure, productive, and responsible environment during DataCite-hosted online events. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation.

• To protect participants from concerns around privacy risks, security vulnerabilities, misinterpretation of information, technical disruptions, and ethical considerations, DataCite prohibits the use of AI bots in DataCite-hosted online events. Bots will be removed from an online event upon discovery. 
• To ensure participant inclusivity, DataCite enables auto-generated closed captions in all DataCite-hosted online events. Live captioning may include inaccuracies or misinterpretation, and must not be considered a precise reflection of what was said by speakers. Transcripts are saved by DataCite only, and won’t be made available to those external to DataCite.
• To protect participants from risks due to exposure of personal information, DataCite has disabled the option to save chat messages in DataCite-hosted online events. Sharing of chat messages and Q&A transcripts with anyone external to DataCite is prohibited, and all requests for access will be refused.

Reporting Harassment/Misconduct

Please bring any concerns to the attention of DataCite staff by completing this form:
DataCite Code of Conduct Incident Report

All reports will be treated confidentially.

If you experience or witness harassment or misconduct, it is recommended that in addition to notifying DataCite staff, you write down the details of the incident. You are not expected to discuss the incident with the offending party. Your confidentiality will be maintained to the extent that it does not compromise the rights of others.

Disclaimer

Presentations from guest speakers during DataCite events reflect the individual views of the author and not necessarily those of DataCite.