The E-ALFA consortium is defined as a group of individuals interested in large scale extragalactic spectral line surveys with ALFA who are willing to work within the guidelines laid down herein and voted in during the May, 2004 workshop.

Consortium Membership

• An "active" member is a person who is, or has been, actively working on some aspect of E-ALFA within the last twelve months.

• Any consortium member who has not been active for 12 months can be voted out of the consortium by a majority vote. If a consortium member/group wishes a member removed, that member/group should contact the steering committee with the reasons why that person should be removed from the consortia. At this point, the steering committee must contact the member and give that person the chance to communicate with the consortium (e.g. via email) to present his/her position. Once this has taken place, a vote will be made from all consortium members regarding wether or not that person shall remain a part of the consortium. Unlike all other votes, removal from the consortium must be made with a 2/3 majority.

• In a similar manner, anyone wishing admittance to the consortium can apply (via the steering committee) for membership. The consortium as a whole will then vote on the candidate admittance to the consortium. A simple majority will decide.

• Any consortium member can choose, at any time, to leave the consortium.

• Any member who has left the group but later wishes to rejoin can re-apply for membership.

• All membership votes will be made with the principle of keeping the consortium as open as is feasible.

Committee Membership

• Steering committee comprised of three people who are voted in by all active consortium members. The steering committee, with NAIC, is responsible for insuring the planned consortium meetings take place, and for organizing SOC and LOC for those meetings. The chair of the steering committee rotates every six months. After serving as chair, that member steps down and a new committee member is elected. (This results in the first two chairs serving abbreviated terms, but allows for continuity within the committee itself.) No person shall remain on the steering committee for longer than 2 years. Election to the steering committee is made through a simple majority The steering committee will always contain a minimum of one person from a U.S. institution. That person need not be the chair of the committee.

• All other committees are open to volunteers. The leader of each committee is elected by vote from all active members of that committee. Committees are free to form subcommittees according to their needs. Committee votes are won by a simple majority.

• Committees are responsible for contacting the steering committee and the consortium as a whole if they are unable to fulfill their duties, due to, e.g. a member leaving the group.

• Committees can be formed and disbanded according to agreement by the consortium as a whole.

Voting/Voting Rights

• All active members of the consortium will be provided with the opportunity to vote on all matters pertaining to the consortium.

• To facilitate this, voting will occur through some readily accessible method, such as email or a secure web form. Unless otherwise mentioned, a simple majority rules.

Authorship

• Any consortium member, or former member, whose work has directly or indirectly (e.g. through commissioning activities, software development, or management) been used for an observation will be considered an author when the results of that dataset are published. The first author, and the order of authors, will be decided upon by the authors of each paper.

Conflict Resolution

• All conflicts affecting the consortium will be voted upon by all consortium members.

Other Issues

• Any issues which arise and which are not directly addressed by this document will be addressed through a vote of all consortium members.

Submitted by K. O'Neil 29 March, 2004
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