# Code of Conduct

## Our Pledge

We as members, contributors, and leaders pledge to make participation in the PRSM community a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of age, body size, visible or invisible disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, level of experience, education, socio-economic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, caste, color, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.

We pledge to act and interact in ways that contribute to an open, welcoming, diverse, inclusive, and healthy community focused on advancing scientific research through collaborative AI.

## Our Standards

### ✅ Examples of behavior that contributes to a positive environment:

**Professional Conduct:**
- Using welcoming and inclusive language
- Being respectful of differing viewpoints and experiences
- Gracefully accepting constructive criticism
- Focusing on what is best for the community and scientific advancement
- Showing empathy towards other community members

**Research Ethics:**
- Conducting research with integrity and transparency
- Properly attributing contributions and discoveries
- Sharing knowledge openly for the benefit of scientific progress
- Respecting intellectual property and licensing terms
- Following responsible AI development practices

**Collaborative Spirit:**
- Helping newcomers learn and contribute effectively
- Providing constructive feedback on ideas and implementations
- Celebrating successes and learning from failures together
- Building bridges between different research domains
- Fostering innovation through diverse perspectives

**Technical Excellence:**
- Writing clear, well-documented code and research
- Following established coding standards and best practices
- Testing contributions thoroughly before submission
- Providing detailed explanations for complex concepts
- Maintaining high standards for safety and reliability

### ❌ Examples of unacceptable behavior:

**Harassment and Discrimination:**
- The use of sexualized language or imagery, and sexual attention or advances of any kind
- Trolling, insulting or derogatory comments, and personal or political attacks
- Public or private harassment of any form
- Doxxing or publishing others' private information without explicit permission
- Discrimination based on protected characteristics

**Professional Misconduct:**
- Plagiarism or claiming others' work as your own
- Deliberately spreading misinformation or false research claims
- Violating confidentiality agreements or data privacy
- Misrepresenting credentials or research experience
- Sabotaging others' work or research efforts

**Technical Misconduct:**
- Submitting malicious code or harmful AI models
- Intentionally introducing security vulnerabilities
- Bypassing safety mechanisms or governance controls
- Spamming systems or wasting computational resources
- Violating platform terms of service or legal requirements

**Community Disruption:**
- Other conduct which could reasonably be considered inappropriate in a professional setting
- Persistent off-topic discussion or derailing conversations
- Refusing to follow community guidelines after repeated requests
- Creating multiple accounts to evade restrictions
- Coordinated harassment or brigading

## Research Ethics and AI Safety

As a platform dealing with AI research and development, PRSM has additional ethical considerations:

### **Responsible AI Development**
- All AI models and research must be conducted ethically
- Safety considerations must be prioritized over performance gains
- Potential societal impacts should be considered and disclosed
- Bias and fairness issues must be actively addressed
- Research should benefit humanity and scientific progress

### **Data Ethics**
- Respect privacy and confidentiality of research data
- Follow applicable data protection regulations (GDPR, etc.)
- Obtain proper consent for data usage when required
- Be transparent about data collection and usage practices
- Protect sensitive or personal information appropriately

### **Open Science Principles**
- Share research methods, data, and results openly when possible
- Provide reproducible research with clear documentation
- Acknowledge contributions from the community appropriately
- Foster collaboration across institutions and disciplines
- Make research accessible to the global scientific community

## Enforcement Responsibilities

Community leaders and maintainers are responsible for clarifying and enforcing our standards of acceptable behavior and will take appropriate and fair corrective action in response to any behavior that they deem inappropriate, threatening, offensive, or harmful.

Community leaders have the right and responsibility to remove, edit, or reject comments, commits, code, wiki edits, issues, and other contributions that are not aligned to this Code of Conduct, and will communicate reasons for moderation decisions when appropriate.

## Scope

This Code of Conduct applies within all community spaces, and also applies when an individual is officially representing the community in public spaces. Examples of representing our community include using an official e-mail address, posting via an official social media account, or acting as an appointed representative at an online or offline event.

This includes:
- GitHub repositories, issues, and pull requests
- Community discussions and forums
- Conference presentations and workshops
- Research collaborations and partnerships
- Social media interactions related to PRSM
- Any other venues where PRSM community members interact

## Reporting Guidelines

### **How to Report**

If you experience or witness unacceptable behavior, or have any other concerns, please report it by contacting the community leaders at:

- **Email**: conduct@prsm-project.org (if available)
- **GitHub**: Private message to repository maintainers
- **Anonymous Form**: [Anonymous reporting form] (if available)

### **What to Include**

When reporting, please provide:
- Your contact information (if you wish to be contacted)
- Names (real, nicknames, or pseudonyms) of any individuals involved
- Your account of what occurred, including relevant context
- Any additional information you believe might be helpful
- Links or screenshots of relevant communications (if applicable)

### **Confidentiality**

All reports will be handled with discretion. We will respect confidentiality requests for the purpose of protecting victims of abuse. We will not publicly name harassment victims without their consent.

### **Anonymous Reporting**

If you don't feel comfortable making a report with your identity attached, you can make an anonymous report. Anonymous reports may limit our ability to follow up with you for additional information, but we will investigate all reports to the best of our ability.

## Enforcement Process

Community leaders will follow these Community Impact Guidelines in determining the consequences for any action they deem in violation of this Code of Conduct:

### **1. Correction**

**Community Impact**: Use of inappropriate language or other behavior deemed unprofessional or unwelcome in the community.

**Consequence**: A private, written warning from community leaders, providing clarity around the nature of the violation and an explanation of why the behavior was inappropriate. A public apology may be requested.

### **2. Warning**

**Community Impact**: A violation through a single incident or series of actions.

**Consequence**: A warning with consequences for continued behavior. No interaction with the people involved, including unsolicited interaction with those enforcing the Code of Conduct, for a specified period of time. This includes avoiding interactions in community spaces as well as external channels like social media. Violating these terms may lead to a temporary or permanent ban.

### **3. Temporary Ban**

**Community Impact**: A serious violation of community standards, including sustained inappropriate behavior.

**Consequence**: A temporary ban from any sort of interaction or public communication with the community for a specified period of time. No public or private interaction with the people involved, including unsolicited interaction with those enforcing the Code of Conduct, is allowed during this period. Violating these terms may lead to a permanent ban.

### **4. Permanent Ban**

**Community Impact**: Demonstrating a pattern of violation of community standards, including sustained inappropriate behavior, harassment of an individual, or aggression toward or disparagement of classes of individuals.

**Consequence**: A permanent ban from any sort of public interaction within the community.

## Appeals Process

If you believe you have been wrongly accused or unfairly punished, you may appeal the decision by:

1. **Contacting the moderation team** within 30 days of the decision
2. **Providing new evidence** or explaining your perspective
3. **Requesting a review** by different community leaders
4. **Accepting the final decision** after the appeal process

Appeals should be made in good faith with genuine belief that an error occurred.

## Special Considerations for AI Research

### **Model Safety and Governance**

- All AI models shared in the community must pass safety validation
- Dangerous or harmful AI capabilities should not be developed or shared
- Research that could enable misuse should include appropriate safeguards
- Community governance mechanisms should be respected and supported

### **Intellectual Property**

- Respect licensing terms of all software, models, and data
- Provide proper attribution for derived works
- Be transparent about funding sources and potential conflicts of interest
- Follow institutional guidelines for research publication and sharing

### **Global Collaboration**

- Be mindful of cultural differences in communication styles
- Accommodate different time zones and working schedules
- Use inclusive language that translates well across cultures
- Respect varying levels of technical expertise and experience

## Community Leadership

### **Maintainer Responsibilities**

Project maintainers are responsible for:
- Modeling positive behavior and professional conduct
- Providing clear guidance on community standards
- Responding promptly to conduct issues
- Making fair and consistent enforcement decisions
- Fostering an inclusive environment for all contributors

### **Community Member Responsibilities**

All community members are expected to:
- Report conduct violations when they occur
- Support newcomers and help them learn community norms
- Provide constructive feedback and encourage positive behavior
- Contribute to a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere
- Uphold the values of open science and collaborative research

## Resources and Support

### **Getting Help**

If you need support or have questions about this Code of Conduct:

- **Documentation**: Review community guidelines and FAQs
- **Mentorship**: Connect with experienced community members
- **Training**: Access resources on inclusive communication and collaboration
- **Counseling**: Seek professional support for serious incidents

### **Educational Resources**

- [Contributor Covenant](https://www.contributor-covenant.org/)
- [IEEE Code of Ethics](https://www.ieee.org/about/corporate/governance/p7-8.html)
- [ACM Code of Ethics](https://www.acm.org/code-of-ethics)
- [Partnership on AI Tenets](https://partnershiponai.org/tenets/)

## Acknowledgments

This Code of Conduct is adapted from the [Contributor Covenant][homepage], version 2.1, available at [https://www.contributor-covenant.org/version/2/1/code_of_conduct.html][v2.1].

Community Impact Guidelines were inspired by [Mozilla's code of conduct enforcement ladder][Mozilla CoC].

For answers to common questions about this code of conduct, see the FAQ at [https://www.contributor-covenant.org/faq][FAQ]. Translations are available at [https://www.contributor-covenant.org/translations][translations].

We also acknowledge the scientific research community's long-standing traditions of:
- Peer review and collaborative validation
- Open sharing of knowledge and methods
- Ethical conduct in research and publication
- Commitment to truth and intellectual integrity

## Contact Information

For questions about this Code of Conduct:
- **General Questions**: Use GitHub Discussions
- **Conduct Reports**: conduct@prsm-project.org
- **Appeal Requests**: appeals@prsm-project.org
- **Urgent Issues**: Contact repository maintainers directly

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> _"Science advances through collaboration, not competition. Our conduct should reflect our commitment to building a better future through responsible AI research."_

**Version**: 1.0  
**Last Updated**: June 5, 2025  
**Next Review**: Annually or as needed

[homepage]: https://www.contributor-covenant.org
[v2.1]: https://www.contributor-covenant.org/version/2/1/code_of_conduct.html
[Mozilla CoC]: https://github.com/mozilla/diversity
[FAQ]: https://www.contributor-covenant.org/faq
[translations]: https://www.contributor-covenant.org/translations