Election of SBML Editors

The election of SBML Editors is executed by the Chair of the SBML Editors, with assistance from the current editors. Note that although the Chair and Editors may be involved in implementing an election, the ultimate selection of each editor is in the hands of the SBML community via a majority vote. The process is designed to provide checks and balances to avoid the influence of personal bias on the part of the Chair and the Editors.

Election procedure

  1. Call for nominations
    1. The call for nominations will be issued no later than November of each year to the sbml-discuss mailing list.
      • Nominations will be made electronically via an anonymous submission form; persons submitting nominations are not required to reveal their identity.
      • Individuals may nominate themselves.
      • Nominations must include the name and contact (email) information for the nominee, and optionally may include an explanation for why the nominator believes the nominee would make a good and technically competent SBML Editor.
      • The nomination database system will be kept confidential, revealed only to the Chair and the current SBML Editors, who will have full access to the database to help guard against tampering by anyone among them.
    2. The period for nominations will be a minimum of two weeks and a maximum of four weeks.
    3. After the nomination period ends, the Chair will perform the following steps:
      1. Remove false (spam) submissions and do any other necessary bookkeeping.
      2. Contact each nominee and confirm that the individual either accepts or declines the nomination.
      3. Produce a final list of nominees who accept the nomination.
      4. Start the next step.
  2. Call for votes
    1. The call for votes will be issued no later than December of each year on the sbml-discuss mailing list.
    2. The election ballot will include the following information about each candidate:
      • Name and institution/organization.
      • Reasons given by the nominator for nominating the individual.
    3. The election ballot will require that each voter provide his/her name and address.
      • Only votes from registered members of the SBML Forum (see above) will be counted in the final tally. Current SBML Editors and the Chair of the SBML Editors, being members of the SBML Forum, are permitted to vote.
      • The voting database will be kept confidential; no one besides the Chair and the current SBML Editors will have access to the voting records.
    4. Each voter can vote for only one candidate.
    5. Candidates may vote for themselves.
    6. The period for nominations will be a minimum of two weeks and a maximum of four weeks.
    7. After the voting period ends, the Chair will perform the following steps:
      1. Remove false (spam) submissions and do any other necessary bookkeeping.
      2. Check each vote against the registration list for the sbml-discuss mailing list and discount votes from individuals who are not registered members of the SBML Forum.
      3. Check for multiple votes by the same individual. In the case of multiple votes, all but the last vote will be discarded.
      4. Tally the results for each candidate.
      5. Rank the candidates by number of votes received.
      6. Go to the next step.
  3. Confirmation and selection
    1. If the highest ranking is shared by two or more candidates, the Tie-breaking step (#4 below) is invoked.
    2. Otherwise, the Chair will contact the highest-ranked candidate and confirm a final time that they either accept or decline the role of SBML Editor for a three-year period. (It is expected that anyone who agrees to be put on the ballot will serve if elected. However, events in life can happen in-between nomination and the completion of the election. This final confirmation step is taken to confirm the prospective editor will make the commitment.)
      1. If the candidate declines, the election is consider invalid. A new election must be performed beginning with step 2, after removing he declining candidate’s name from the ballot.
  4. Tie-breaking (if necessary)
    1. In the event of a tie for the choice of Editor(s), the Chair will implement a run-off election consisting of only the candidates who are tied.
    2. The run-off election will be held as soon as possible after the end of the regular election (“Call for votes” above).
    3. The run-off election will last for one week.
    4. The procedure will be otherwise the same as the regular election (“Call for votes” above).
  5. Announcement
    1. The announcement of the winning Editor(s) will be made in December.
    2. The Chair will issue an announcement on the sbml-discuss mailing list about the winning Editors after the regular voting and any necessary run-off elections are finished.
    3. The newly elected SBML Editor(s) will serve beginning on January 1 of the next year.

Confidentiality policy

The results of voting will be kept strictly confidential by the Chair and SBML Editors. Although complete anonymity is not possible (someone has to tally the votes, remove votes by non-members, deal with multiple votes, etc.), the SBML Editors and the Chair recognize that breaching confidentiality would irrevocably damage the broader SBML community’s confidence in the election process, and therefore confidentiality must be maintained.