WorldWideScience.org Alliance

Terms of Reference

Background

Scientific progress increasingly requires global collaboration. Scientific progress requires access to worldwide scientific knowledge. Scientific progress can be accelerated if access to worldwide scientific knowledge is accelerated. This line of logic is the premise and the promise of WorldWideScience.org – a global science gateway.

In June 2006 at the public conference of the International Council for Scientific and Technical Information (ICSTI), Dr. Walter Warnick of the U.S. Department of Energy introduced the concept of a global science gateway, which he descriptively called “Science.world.” Envisioned as an international extension of the technology powering the U.S. Science.gov, Science.world was proposed as a revolutionary means of providing distributed and simultaneous access to scientific databases and portals around the globe.

Following the introduction of this concept, the British Library offered to partner in the development of a Global Science Gateway, and in January 2007, the British Library and the U.S. Department of Energy signed a Statement of Intent to partner in this effort and invited other nations to join the partnership. In addition to the points above regarding international scientific collaboration and the role of knowledge diffusion in scientific advances, the Statement of Intent also noted a number of other factors as impetuses for a global science gateway:

A positive trend has emerged as nations have recognized the importance of providing their citizens with one-stop electronic access to increasing volumes of science information;
In the international community there is a growing sense of the need for reciprocity and sharing of science knowledge across national boundaries;
There are well regarded and well used science information systems and collections which provide the critical foundation and content for a global, decentralized body of science knowledge; and
The technology exists for federating searching across vast, dispersed science information collections.

The Statement of Intent envisioned a global science gateway that will:

Search dispersed, electronic collections in general, subject-specific, and cross-cutting fields of science;
Provide direct and free searching of open-source collections and portals and will also allow patrons with proper access credentials to simultaneously search limited-access systems (e.g., agreements based on country membership);
Build upon existing and already successful national models for searching;
Seek to complement existing information collections and systems; and
Maximise the attribution to and recognition of individual sources of information to the patron for the purpose of raising the visibility and usage of individual sources.

Following the January signing, the U.S. Department of Energy and British Library began efforts to develop a prototype for a global science gateway, offering Science.gov and UKPubMedCentral as the U.S. and U.K. sources, respectively, for the prototype. Hearing the invitation to partner, other nations offered additional sources, and certain nations with robust science portals were also directly contacted and asked to participate. The resulting prototype, called WorldWideScience.org (WWS.org), performed federated searching of 15 portals and databases across 10 countries. The prototype was demonstrated before an international audience on 22 June 2007 at the public conference of ICSTI, held at L’Institut de l’Information Scientifique et Technique (INIST) in Nancy, France.

With the successful deployment of the WorldWideScience.org prototype and given its multilateral composition, the next step in developing a long-term, sustainable business model centered on establishment of a governance structure. With many of the “owners” of WWS.org portals and databases being represented in ICSTI membership, it was agreed in the June 2007 business meetings of ICSTI that ICSTI will establish and maintain a special relationship with the WorldWideScience.org governance structure, serving as a primary sponsor. This Terms of Reference (ToR) document outlines the general purpose, objectives, functions, and processes of this structure, called the WorldWideScience Alliance.

Purpose and Objectives

The purpose of the WorldWideScience (WWS) Alliance is to provide a geographically-diverse, long-term governance structure to promote and build upon the original vision of a global science gateway.

The objectives of the Alliance are to:

Establish the process by which sources are added to or deleted from WWS.org’s federated searching.
Define the strategic technological path for WWS.org, with the goal of adhering to the original vision outlined in the Statement of Intent and keeping WWS.org unique and meaningful in the field of scientific knowledge diffusion.
Identify the market positioning for WWS.org and implement actions to fill that niche. This includes identifying information sources for federated searching to fill key gaps in scientific knowledge diffusion.
Actively market WWS.org to maximise visibility and usage.
Establish an annual budget for WWS.org and Alliance activities.
Define the funding formula and mechanism for WWS.org and Alliance activities. Potential funding sources include Alliance member contributions, ICSTI, and other sponsorship/grant sources.
Identify an Alliance member organization to serve as the treasurer for WWS.org and Alliance fund receipts and disbursements.
Establish a secretariat, or operating agent, to provide administrative and other support to the Alliance, if it is deemed necessary by the Alliance.

Structure and Governance

The Alliance will have a two-tiered governing structure consisting of 1) the larger Alliance itself, which approves broad policies, direction, and strategies and 2) an Executive Board chosen by the Alliance to implement policies and strategies and to manage the Alliance’s day-to-day business. A description of composition and responsibilities follows:It is not a requirement that Alliance members are also ICSTI members although this relationship is strongly encouraged. However, the Alliance’s chairperson and co-chairperson must be ICSTI members.

Alliance. Membership of the Alliance consists of WWS.org source "owners," sponsors, and others specifically approved by the Alliance – who agree to the Terms of Reference and fulfill membership obligations, including cost sharing (in the form of member contributions or sponsorship fees) and task sharing (i.e., fulfilling respective responsibilities to promote the quality and performance of WWS.org). A single designated person will represent each Alliance member organization. Members will be entitled to stand for election and vote on the elected positions of the Executive Board. The election for the officers of the Executive Board will be conducted once a year to coincide with the anniversary of the formation of the Alliance. Collective Alliance responsibilities are to:

Approve and (subsequently) amend the Terms of Reference and other policies/plans of the Alliance;
Vote on elected Executive Board positions;
Approve the Alliance budget;
Review and ratify WWS.org source additions and removals made by the Executive Board; and
Review and ratify sponsor relationships and other Alliance member additions provisionally established by the Executive Board.

The Alliance will have one formal annual meeting, normally in conjunction with the ICSTI winter meeting. Special meetings of the Alliance may be called when twenty (20) percent of the membership or 3 Alliance members (whichever is more) request such a meeting.

The Alliance will use an approach similar to ICSTI’s in determining member contributions and sponsorship fees. Specifically, member contributions will be divided into 3 categories, based on the size of member organizations’ annual budgets (e.g., total revenue and/or appropriation). Category 1 will apply to organizations with an annual budget up to 5 million USD, and the annual contribution will be 2,000 USD. Category 2 will apply to organizations with an annual budget from 5 million USD to 15 million USD, and the annual contribution will be 5,000 USD. Category 3 will apply to organizations with an annual budget above 15 million USD, and annual contributions will be 8,000 USD. Also similar to the ICSTI approach, Category 2 and 3 members will have two votes on issues relating to budget and contributions, and Category 1 members will have one vote on such issues. On all other issues, each member will have one vote. All members are eligible to hold elected officer positions. Sponsorship fees and other forms of contributions will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis.

Executive Board. The Executive Board will consist of elected officers (Chair, Deputy Chair, and Treasurer), one non-elected ex-officio member from the WWS.org "operating organization" (currently, the Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) from the U.S. Department of Energy), one non-elected ex-officio member from ICSTI, and one “at-large” Alliance member elected by the Executive Board. Selection of the "at-large" position will take into consideration the geographic diversity of the Executive Board.

The term of the elected officers and the "at-large" position will be 2 years each. At the end of the first term, the term of certain positions may be extended by one year, subject to approval by the Alliance, as a means to create an overlap of terms for the three officers. Non-elected members will have a perpetual term.

The Executive Board will meet at least four times a year. A quorum is required to conduct Executive Board business and is defined as a minimum of 2 elected positions and one non-elected position. The timing, location, and form of these meetings will be determined by the Executive Board. Initially, the expectation is that two of the meetings will be in person at the biannual ICSTI meetings, and the other two will be by conference call between the ICSTI meetings. Any Executive Board member who fails to attend three consecutive meetings will be deemed to have resigned from the Board, and a replacement will be sought. To reflect the global aspirations of the Alliance, elected officers should ideally be drawn from geographically distributed locations.

The Executive Board of the Alliance seeks to act by consensus. In the event decisions require a vote, each officer (elected and non-elected) will have one vote, and a decision requires a simple majority vote. In the event of a tie, the chair will cast the deciding vote. Officers will be expected to abstain from votes where they have a conflict of interest.

The Executive Board will be supported by a secretariat that will perform the administrative duties of the Alliance.

Primary responsibilities of the Executive Board are to:

Represent the Alliance;
Develop and recommend program strategies for WWS.org to the Alliance;
Formulate and recommend an annual budget to the Alliance;
Make budget allocation and spending decisions;
Establish member subscription fees and sponsorships;
Develop and implement communications and promotions strategies;
Review performance of 'Operating Organization' and Secretariat and make recommendation to the Alliance regarding continuation of services;
Provide a report of WWS.org status and progress at annual member meeting;
Seek new members and sponsorships to the Alliance and provisionally approve such additions, subject to Alliance ratification; and
Provisionally add and remove WWS.org sources, subject to ratification by the Alliance.

Individual responsibilities of elected officers follow.

Chair

Chairs the Executive Board;
Calls Executive Board meetings;
Reports to membership at annual meeting;
Creates and distributes agendas for Executive Board meetings (one week in advance) and Alliance meetings (two weeks in advance); and
Serves as primary spokesperson for Alliance.

Deputy Chair

Assumes Chair’s responsibilities when Chair is unavailable.

Treasurer

Produces annual report of accounts for review at Executive Board meeting and annual member meeting;
Ensures Alliance’s finances are well managed and correctly collected and disbursed; and
Proposes changes to annual Alliance member subscription fee.

Secretariat responsibilities are to:

Conduct the annual elections for the officers of the Executive Board;
Take notes and action items for Executive Board meetings;
Collect member subscription fees and sponsorship payments;
Assist Executive Board in seeking appropriate new members for the Alliance; and
Report to the Executive Board on the status of potential new members.

Operating Organization responsibilities are to:

Operate and maintain WWS.org, including implementation of upgrades and additions/removals as directed by the Executive Board;
Maintain WWS.org performance and usage metrics;
Report to the Board on the availability over the last reporting period of all content sources for WWS.org;
Contact any source owner whose content source has dropped below an acceptable level of availability and/or quality over the last reporting period; and
Propose acceptance and quality criteria for new content sources for approval by the Executive Board. This may include the use of external experts to guide the Executive Board in its recommendations of source additions.

It is not a requirement that Alliance members are also ICSTI members although this relationship is strongly encouraged. However, the Executive Board’s Chair and Deputy Chair must be ICSTI members.

Dissolution of the Alliance. In the event that the Alliance is dissolved, remaining funds of the Alliance will first be used to satisfy any outstanding obligations of the secretariat and operating organization. Net funds remaining will then be proportionally distributed by the secretariat to Alliance members and sponsors based on their cumulative fees paid.