modENCODE Project Criteria for Participation

modENCODE Project Criteria for Participation

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) has organized a public research consortium (named modENCODE, the model organism Encyclopedia of DNA Elements) to carry out a project to identify all functional elements in the genomes of C. elegans and D. melanogaster. The modENCODE Consortium is open to all academic, government and private sector scientists interested in participating in an open process to facilitate the comprehensive interpretation of the C. elegans and D. melanogaster genomes who agree to the criteria for participation described below.

Criteria for participation in the modENCODE Consortium:

1. Each participant will inform the NHGRI and the modENCODE Consortium members about their group's experimental plans.
   
   
2. Each participant agrees to analyze the entire genome of one or both organisms and not just a subset of the genome(s). A research group composed of several individuals with a shared experimental approach can be formed, with each individual examining a part of the genome, provided that the group as a whole will gather data on the entire genome and that the leader of the group will take responsibility for this.
   
   
3. Each participant is expected to contribute significantly to the project, bringing his or her particular expertise to accomplish the goals of the Consortium in a timely manner. Participation in the Consortium should consist of more than deposition of data to the shared database and should include substantial intellectual contributions to the Project.
   
   
4. All members of the Consortium will share results according to the modENCODE Data Release Policy (under development; key element will be rapid pre-publication data release).
   
   
5. All members of the Consortium agree to participate in group activities, including attending periodic workshops to discuss the project's progress and coordinating the publication of research results.
   
   
6. The participants will fully disclose all publicly funded algorithms, software source code, and experimental methods to the other members of the Consortium for purposes of scientific evaluation and are strongly encouraged to disseminate this information to the broad scientific community.
   
   
7. The participants agree that they will not disclose confidential information obtained from other members of the Consortium.
   
   
8. The NHGRI, with the advice of the project's External Consultants Panel, will approve of participants for involvement in the Consortium.
   
   
9. Additional criteria may be added upon recommendations of the modENCODE External Consultants Panel.