The WMS is a professional scientific society that provides a respectful, harassment-free and inclusive environment for all members, regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, appearance, ethnicity, race, national origin, age or religion.
All members are expected to behave with integrity and respect towards other members or participant in society activities.
The WMS is committed to informing members about the code of conduct for members. Likewise, WMS is committed to installing procedures and guidance for appropriate reporting of unacceptable behaviour of any kind.
WMS highlights the importance for members to express cultural sensitivity and respect with regards to clothing and appearance.
The present Code of Conduct is not a legal document or prescriptive in nature. It supplements, but does not affect, the application of other relevant policies, regulations, rules, and laws, including laws regulating the premises or platform in which WMS activities may take place. WMS complies with such policies and will report all inappropriate conduct accordingly.
WMS members will be provided with personalised credentials allowing them access to the Members only pages. These credentials are personal and non-transferable.
All WMS Members are expected to interact with fellow members in the same way as at a physical WMS event. As such:
All communication, be it verbal or electronic, must be carried out in a respectful and polite manner. Inappropriate messaging or contact will not be tolerated.
Members are encouraged to report any experience of harassment to the WMS Secretariat on office@worldmusclesociety.org. The WMS reserve the right to take any action deemed appropriate in case of harassment. Host institutions of reported individuals will be notified about filed harassment reports.
WMS Members are required to respect the privacy of other members and refrain from any unauthorised or unwelcomed recording or photography, including recording of any direct or indirect interactions or electronic messaging with other members.
The WMS adheres to the copyright laws guiding the appropriate sharing of scientific research material, including data. Authors’ consent may be requested by WMS Congress Ltd in case sharing of scientific material from abstracts/posters/presentations will be required as part of WMS educational activities.
For the purpose of these guidelines, harassment consists of improper or unwelcome conduct that might reasonably be perceived as causing offence or humiliation to another person. Harassment may involve any conduct of a verbal, non-verbal or physical nature, including written and electronic communication, and may occur between persons of the same or different genders. Harassment in any form is not tolerated by members.
Examples of harassment include, but are not limited to:
All data and scientific research that is presented at a WMS Congress and subsequently shared on the WMS website shall be based on original research findings that have been derived from procedures and experiments that adhere to the accepted guidelines for good ethical and experimental research conduct. Presenters are responsible for the content of their presentations, whether oral or written, and shall secure appropriate consent from collaborators and funders, as relevant, prior to any presentation at a WMS Congress.
The WMS encourages open and respectful discussions on social media and blogging platforms. Nonetheless, members are requested to not post images or video online without obtaining appropriate permission. Members are requested to respect any request from an author not to disseminate the contents of their presentation/poster.
The WMS reserve the right to take any action as deemed necessary, as a consequence of any breach of the present Code of Conduct. This includes reporting to host institutions and permanent removal of WMS membership credentials.
In case of a breach of the Code of Conduct, the concerned individuals are requested to contact Ms Clare Beach, WMS Secretariat office@worldmusclesociety.org
The WMS reserve all rights to take any action to prevent and report violations of the Code of Conduct, including blocking access to the WMS Membership and/or Congress and filing a police report when appropriate. The WMS cannot investigate reports of harassment or other misconduct but will inform the appropriate departments of the accused person’s host institution about any such filed report.
