WikiJournal User Group/Individual WikiJournal bylaws

WikiJournal User Group
Open access • Publication charge free • Public peer review • Wikipedia-integrated

Note: This is a centralised template version of the bylaws used for the individual WikiJournals in the WikiJournal User Group:

For the actual bylaws of each journal, the text "WikiJournal User Group" from this template is replaced with the journal's name.

For the bylaws of the WikiJournal User Group, see WikiJournal User Group/Bylaws.

ARTICLE I - NAME

The name of this organization is the relevant journal within the within the WikiJournal User Group (abbreviated Wiki.J.Xyz.). The main web site of the journal shall be http://www.WikiJXYZ.org. If the project moves to a separate sister site, the board may vote on the option of changing the name.

ARTICLE II - STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

The mission of Each journal within the WikiJournal User Group is to receive scholarly works with no cost for the authors, apply quality checks on submissions by peer review, and make accepted works available on the Internet free of charge, in perpetuity.

ARTICLE III - VOTING

Section 1. Scope

(a) The voting procedures in ARTICLE IV apply to:

(b) Appointment of members of the Editorial Board as specified in ARTICLE IV.

(c) Appointment of Associate Editors as specified in ARTICLE VI.

(d) Removal of any Official as specified in ARTICLE VII.

(e) Amendment of these bylaws as specified in ARTICLE IX

Section 2. Eligible voting members

Eligible voting members are:

(a) Current members of the Administrative Board

(b) Current members of any Editorial Board of Individual WikiJournals

(c) Current associate editors of any Editorial Board of Individual WikiJournals

(d) Peer reviewers who have completed at least one peer review for an Individual WikiJournal

(e) Authors who have completed at least one article published in an Individual WikiJournal

(f) Registered Wikiversity users with at least 30 edits pages of WikiJournal, including Individual WikiJournals

(g) Not an individual voting for herself/himself

Section 3. Quorum

(a) A quorum is constituted by the lesser of the following two:

(b) Ten (10) votes from eligible voting members or

(c) One-fifth (20%) of the total number of Editorial Board members.

Section 4. Outcome

(a) Votes and appointments are decided by the majority of votes cast by eligible voting members at 14 days after the initial public posting of the corresponding appointment application, removal proposal or proposal of bylaw changes.

(b) A vote may be extended if a quorum is not reached after 14 days.

ARTICLE IV - EDITORIAL BOARD

Section 1. General Powers

The Editorial Board elects the Editor-in-chief and the Assistant to the Editor-in-chief.

The Editorial Board has the right to dismiss the Editor-in-chief and/or Assistant to the Editor-in chief by majority vote.

Section 2. Governance priorities

The Editorial Board must be composed of Editorial Board Members with a set of talents, experience, and competencies that will best fulfill the mission and needs of Wiki.J.Xyz.. The Editorial Board and its Members are understood to act as fiduciaries with regard to Wiki.J.Xyz.

Section 3. Appointment

(a) The number of Editorial Board Members of Wiki.J.Xyz. should be kept at a minimum of 10.

(b) Anyone may nominate herself/himself as a candidate for Editorial Board membership. An announcement of candidacy needs to be made at the editor appointment discussion page.

(c) An Editorial Board Member is elected by a majority of votes by a voting procedure as specified in ARTICLE III.

Section 4. Duration of Term

Editorial Board Members shall serve four-year terms. There is no limit to the number of terms any individual Editorial Board Member may serve.

Section 5. General decisions

(a) Decisions in the Editorial Board are made by consensus on the editor appointment discussion page, or by email correspondence. Significant decisions concerning Wiki.J.Xyz. shall be made at the earliest after 4 days after email to WJXboard googlegroups.com (which only accepts emails from board members) with an appropriate explanation of the subject at hand.

(b) In cases of voting, the act of the majority of the Editorial Board Members shall be the act of the Editorial Board. An Editorial Board Member does not have an obligation to vote, but shall be presumed to have assented to the act of the Editorial Board, unless the Editorial Board Member votes against such action.

Section 6. Article acceptance

The Editorial Board can decide to accept an article for inclusion in Wiki.J.Xyz., provided that the article conforms to the following minimal criteria for inclusion:

The article content is not already published in a peer reviewed forum that prohibits further publication.
The author(s), creator(s) and/or sole owner(s) of the exclusive copyright of the work agrees to have it published under a free license (link to list of examples), preferably the "Creative Commons Attribution 4.0" license.
Potential conflicts of interests are declared.
A peer review has been performed.

Section 7. Special meetings

(a) Notice of any special board meeting shall be given at least 10 days before the meeting by written notice to WJXboard googlegroups.com specifying the date, time, and purposes of the meeting.

(b) An Editorial Board Member may participate in a meeting of such board by means of a conference telephone or online, by means of which all persons participating in the meeting can hear each other at the same time. Participating by such means shall constitute presence in person at a meeting.

Section 8. Expenses

Editorial Board Members may not be compensated for their efforts. They may be allowed expenses, by resolution of the Editorial Board, for attending meetings, if necessary.

Section 9. Voting means

Voting on all matters, including the election of Editorial Board Members, may be conducted on-wiki, by mail, electronic mail, facsimile transmission, chat software, video conferencing, wiki software, or other similar verifiable means. Proxy voting shall not be allowed.

Section 10. Records

Email correspondence at WJXboard googlegroups.com serve as primary records of discussions of the Editorial Board. Important decisions and events related to Wiki.J.Xyz. shall also be made public at, or linked from, the talk page of the main page of Wiki.J.Xyz..

Section 11. End of Term

The end of term of an Editorial Board Member is set forth in ARTICLE VII.

ARTICLE IV - EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Section 1. General Powers

(a) The Editor-in-chief has full powers to carry out operations and policies, either directly or through a written delegation of authority.

(b) The Editor-in-chief may sign and execute any deeds, mortgages, bonds, contracts, or other instruments which the Editorial Board has authorized to be executed, except in cases where the signing and execution thereof shall be expressly delegated by the Editorial Board or by these Bylaws to some other officer or agent of Wiki.J.Xyz., or shall be required by law to be otherwise signed or executed.

Section 2. Responsibilities

(a) The Editor-in-chief shall see that the resolutions and directives of the Editorial Board are carried into effect except in those instances in which responsibility is assigned to some other person by the Editorial Board.

(b) The Editor-in-chief shall have general supervision of the affairs of Wiki.J.Xyz. and shall make reports to the Editorial Board to keep Editorial Board members informed of corporation activities.

(c) The Editor-in-chief ensures that each new board member is added to the Google Group of the Editorial Board in order to receive emails to WJXboard googlegroups.com.

Section 3. Appointment

The Editor-in-chief is appointed by consensus in the Editorial Board.

Section 4. Expenses

The Editor-in-chief may not be compensated for the corresponding efforts. The Editor-in-chief may be allowed expenses, by resolution of the Editorial Board, if necessary.

Section 5. End of Term

The end of term of the Editor-in-chief is set forth in ARTICLE VII.

ARTICLE V - ASSISTANT TO THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Section 1. General Powers

The Assistant to the Editor-in-chief will act in place of the Editor-in-chief on the event of his or her resignation or incapacity. The Assistant to the Editor-in-chief shall have the General powers and responsibilities of the Editor-in-chief when the Editor-in-chief is absent or unable to perform the corresponding duties.

Section 2. Appointment

The Assistant to the Editor-in-chief is appointed by consensus in the Editorial Board.

Section 3. Expenses

The Assistant to the Editor-in-chief may not be compensated for the corresponding efforts. The Assistant to the Editor-in-chief may be allowed expenses, by resolution of the Editorial Board, if necessary.

Section 4. End of Term

The end of term of the Assistant to the Editor-in-chief is set forth in ARTICLE VII.

ARTICLE VI - ASSOCIATE EDITORS

Section 2. Governance priorities

Associate editors must have talents, experience, and competencies that will best fulfill the requirements for organising peer reviews for Wiki.J.Xyz. within their field of expertise.

Section 3. Appointment

(a) Anyone may nominate herself/himself as a candidate for Associate editor membership. An announcement of candidacy needs to be made at the editor appointment discussion page.

(b) An Associate editor is elected by a majority of votes by a voting procedure as specified in ARTICLE III.

ARTICLE VII - END OF TERM

Bylaws concerning end of term applies equally, unless specifically noted, to Editorial Board Members, Editor-in-chief and Assistant to the Editor-in-chief, and these positions are referred to as a group as Officials in this article. The end of term of an Official follows the fulfillment of having served a four-year term, resignation or removal, as detailed in following sections of this article, or death.

Section 1. Four-year term

An Official shall serve four-year terms. There is no limit to the number of terms an individual may serve as an Official.

Section 2. Resignation

An Official may resign at any time by giving written notice to the Editorial Board. Any such resignation shall take effect at the time specified therein, or, if the time be not specified therein, upon its acceptance by the Editorial Board.

Section 3. Removal

An Official may be removed by a majority of votes in a voting procedure as specified in ARTICLE III following a written notice of a removal request at the editor appointment discussion page by any eligible voting member.

An Official may also be automatically removed for being inactive in the editorial board for the past 12 months. Active is defined as at least one productive engagement in an email or on-wiki discussion, participating in a virtual WikiJournal meeting, participating, attending or presenting as a WikiJournal representative at a local, national or international event, or finding peer reviewers for a submission. Prior to the removal for inactivity, the Official will be notified via user talk page and email (if applicable) and encouraged to become active at least 1 month before being procedurally removed. An Official can be temporarily exempted from the inactive policy due to extenuating circumstances by notifying their respective journal's Editor-in-chief or Assistant to the Editor-in-chief.

ARTICLE VIII - WIKIJOURNAL

Section 1. Organization

(a) WikiJournal is the publisher of Wiki.J.Xyz..

(b) WikiJournal is responsible for uniformity of editorial procedures, as well as for the technical infrastructure of Wiki.J.Xyz..

(c) WikiJournal administers the financials of Wiki.J.Xyz., unless having approved Wiki.J.Xyz. to handle some or all financials independently.

(d) Wiki.J.Xyz. may edit all its wiki pages, including those describing editorial procedures, without the need for approval by WikiJournal.

Section 2. Dedication of Assets

The property of is irrevocably dedicated to charitable purposes and no part of the funds allotted by WikiJournal to shall ever inure to the benefit of any Editorial Board Member or to the benefit of any private individual other than compensation in a reasonable amount to its contractors for services rendered.

Section 3. Dissolution

Upon the dissolution or winding-up of Wiki.J.Xyz., the resultant assets remaining after payment, or provision for payment, of all debts and liabilities of shall be distributed to WikiJournal. If this is not possible, the resultant assets shall be distributed to Wikimedia Foundation.

Section 4. Loans

No loans shall be contracted on behalf of the and no evidence of indebtedness shall be issued in its name unless authorized by a resolution of the Editorial Board.

ARTICLE IX - AMENDMENT

These Bylaws may be altered, amended or repealed and new Bylaws may be adopted by a majority of votes by a voting procedure as specified in ARTICLE III, counting after a written notice has been given to the following forums with intention to alter, amend or repeal or to adopt new Bylaws:

The internal email list of the Editorial Board: WJXboard googlegroups.com
The main public email list of WikiJournal: wikijournal-en lists.wikimedia.org
The main online Discussion page of Wiki.J.Xyz.: Talk:WikiJournal User Group

Proposed alterations can be drafted on a "Proposed changes" subpage.