Fellow Revocation Policy

Fellow Revocation Policy1

EFFECTIVE: August 2020

Purpose: Receiving the INFORMS Fellow award is an honor, and all Fellows are expected to meet the commonly held standards of professional ethics and scientific integrity. Revoking the Fellow award is a serious undertaking that should not be pursued without due consideration. However, in the rare case where an elected Fellow no longer meets this expectation or otherwise fails to merit the continued status of Fellow, the following procedures are to be followed when considering a request to revoke an individual’s Fellow award.

Scope: INFORMS will, in its sole discretion, consider revoking a Fellow2 award in documented cases of scientific misconduct or serious breaches of professional ethics. All requests to revoke a Fellow award will be handled in accordance with the procedures provided herein.3

This policy covers professional activities wherever they take place. This policy includes interactions with persons such as, but not limited to, colleagues, subordinates, students, teaching or research assistants or others with whom the Fellow interacts as part of the Fellow’s professional activities.

The INFORMS Ethics Guidelines establish standards to which all INFORMS members, and particularly INFORMS Fellows, should aspire. The INFORMS Code of Conduct and the INFORMS Policies and Procedures (P&P) 13.8 on Publication Ethics outline several forms of scientific misconduct and breaches of professional ethics that could be grounds for revocation of the Fellow award. These include but are not limited to sexual misconduct, racial discrimination, scientific fraud, or other ethical violations. Sexual harassment or retaliation for declining, objecting to, or reporting harassment or other sexual conduct may constitute a serious breach of professional ethics.

A request for revocation of a Fellow award must include a report that documents investigative findings, sanctions, or actions taken by an independent organization or agency, an organization affiliated with INFORMS, or INFORMS itself4. Alternatively, a public announcement of the information in a report, or actions that have been taken, may be submitted. Media reports alone may not be sufficient to support a revocation request. INFORMS will only consider requests for revocation filed within four years of publication of the report or announcement of the finding, sanction, or action, and will not consider requests when the Fellow is deceased.

Fellow award will be handled in accordance with the procedures provided herein.

Procedures:

The following procedures shall be followed. INFORMS will make reasonable efforts so that only the parties named in the procedures below, and INFORMS legal counsel if necessary, are made aware of the existence of the revocation request or the identities of the requestor and the Fellow accused of misconduct. All meetings, discussions, and deliberations of these parties, both formal and informal, shall be kept confidential except as may be required by a court of competent jurisdiction or as otherwise required to comply with INFORMS’ legal obligations.

  1. A request for revocation should be made in writing to the Director, Professional Recognition and Development at the INFORMS headquarters. Requests may be sent to Mary Magrogan, Director of Professional Recognition and Development. Upon receipt, the Director will inform the Fellow in writing and in confidence that a request has been made, with the supporting documentation, keeping the identity of the requestor confidential. The Director will provide a copy of this P&P to inform the Fellow of these procedures, define a timeline for the process, and inform the Fellow of the timeline. The entire process should conclude within 120 days of receipt of the revocation request, except in extenuating circumstances, which should be promptly communicated to the Fellow. If the complaint does not concern an INFORMS Fellow, then the Director of Recognition and Development will bring the complaint to the appropriate director of INFORMS.
  2. At any stage in the process, the Fellow has the option to relinquish their Fellow award, at which point the process will conclude.
  3. A request must include a report that documents investigative findings and/or public announcement of findings or actions taken (or references thereto) from a credible body such as the Federal government’s Office of Research Integrity, other Federal or state agencies (e.g., NSF, NIH), a professional organization, an academic institution, a company or NGO, a court of law, or admission(s) of conduct by the Fellow. Requests for revocation may only be made by a member of INFORMS, or by an employee of INFORMS (employee must be employed with INFORMS at the time of the request). The requestor must include detailed information about the sources used in order to enable verification of information. In addition, the requestor must agree in writing to maintain the confidentiality of the revocation request until its conclusion at INFORMS. At no time during the investigation should the identities of those involved be shared except as needed to conduct the investigation, as required by law or to comply with legal obligations.
  4. The INFORMS Director of Professional Recognition and Development, or designee, will conduct, or contract with a third-party, a preliminary review to determine if the request is substantive, has adequate documentation, and complies with these procedures. The Director of Professional Recognition and Development may communicate with the requestor to gain clarification on the materials and claims submitted. The Director or designee will provide a report to the INFORMS Executive Committee and the Vice President for Membership and Professional Recognition (VPM&PR).
  5. During revocation procedures, deliberations on claims will be based on the evidence provided. Investigations by INFORMS of complaints or charges beyond information presented in the request or otherwise available publicly (such as publications or court records) will not occur as part of revocation procedures.
  6. Based on the submitted documents, the VPM&PR will decide whether to proceed with revocation procedures or to dismiss the request. If the VPM&PR proceeds, the VPM&PR will appoint a Revocation Panel to make a recommendation on the request. This Revocation Panel will include five voting members drawn from the pool of regular or retired INFORMS members who are not currently serving on the Board of INFORMS, of which at least three must be current Fellows. The VPM&PR will also serve ex officio as a non-voting member. Members of the Revocation Panel must declare any conflicts of interest, or perceptions of conflict of interest, in accordance with INFORMS Policies and Procedures 2.5 (Conflict of Interest) and 6.1 (General Information on Awards). The Revocation Panel will remain active until a determination has been made on the request. This work may continue past the end of the VPM&PR’s term, at which point the incoming VPM&PR will join ex officio.
  7. If the VPM&PR decides to proceed, the Fellow will be notified of this fact in writing and in confidence, and will be provided the names of all Revocation Panel members. The Fellow will be invited to respond in writing to the request, and if desired, to make an oral presentation to the Revocation Panel which will ordinarily occur via telephone or virtual conference. Such conference will not include any representatives of the Fellow and will be limited in time and scope per the direction of the Revocation Panel. The Fellow must submit any written response and/or make an oral presentation to the Revocation Panel, generally within 30 days of notification or in accordance with the timeline set forth by the VPM&PR.
  8. After the deadline for responses has passed, the Revocation Panel will consider the original request, any responses, including the oral presentation/conference with the Fellow, if any, and may also consider any other pertinent information of public or official record. The Revocation Panel will discuss and vote on a recommendation of revocation, using clear and convincing evidence as the standard of proof, meaning that the contention is highly probable. The Revocation Panel will provide a summary report, including the vote count on the recommendation, to the INFORMS Executive Committee. If the recommendation by simple majority of the Revocation Panel is to revoke the Fellow award, the Executive Committee will then discuss and vote on a motion of revocation, using clear and convincing evidence as the standard of proof. An affirmative vote of a simple majority of the voting members of the Executive Committee is required for this motion to pass. If the recommendation of the Revocation Panel is not to revoke the Fellow award, then the award will not be revoked and no vote by the Executive Committee will take place. The decision of Revocation Panel, the member who submitted the request, and the Fellow. Neither the vote tally nor the decisions of individual members of the Revocation Panel or the Executive Committee will be included. If it is determined that the Fellow award should be revoked, the Fellow’s name shall be removed from all public listings of INFORMS Fellows maintained by INFORMS and the INFORMS Board will be notified. If the INFORMS President and Executive Director determine that there should be an announcement or publication of the decision to revoke the Fellow award, the background factors or bases for the revocation may be included in the announcement. Reinstatement: After a Fellow’s award has been revoked or a Fellow has relinquished their award under the procedures of this Policy, should significant, material new evidence come to the Executive Committee, if rendered, is the final decision and there is no appeal.5
  9. After the decision is made, the INFORMS Executive Director will share the result with the Revocation Panel, the member who submitted the request, and the Fellow. Neither the vote tally nor the decisions of individual members of the Revocation Panel or the Executive Committee will be included.
  10. If it is determined that the Fellow award should be revoked, the Fellow’s name shall be removed from all public listings of INFORMS Fellows maintained by INFORMS and the INFORMS Board will be notified.
  11. If the INFORMS President and Executive Director determine that there should be an announcement or publication of the decision to revoke the Fellow award, the background factors or bases for the revocation may be included in the announcement.
  12. Reinstatement: After a Fellow’s award has been revoked or a Fellow has relinquished their award under the procedures of this Policy, should significant, material new evidence come to light that would call into question the conclusion to revoke the Fellow award, a member may request reinstatement. The process and procedure for reinstatement will be substantively equivalent to the procedure to revoke the Fellow award.
  13. Records of Fellows revocation procedures shall include the original request and supporting documentation, any additional documentation obtained by INFORMS during the procedures, and the outcomes of any votes held. These records shall be kept until a member of the INFORMS Executive Committee is informed that the Fellow is deceased, for the purposes of a) confirming that a newly elected Fellow did not previously have their Fellow award revoked, b) noting if a pattern of revocation requests emerges against a single Fellow that itself could constitute grounds for revocation, or c) evaluating requests for reinstatement of a revoked award. Additionally, a summary of revocation requests (name of the accused Fellow and outcome of the request) shall be saved permanently.

Proviso: The four-year time limit for submitting revocation requests will be waived for the first two years this policy is in effect.

Proviso: The VPM&PR will review this policy every two years and bring forward to the Board any proposed changes to this policy.

 

1 This policy will be available publicly on the INFORMS web site with other Fellows program policies.

2 Being named an INFORMS Fellow is expected to be a lifetime honor. This revocation policy is still applicable to Fellows who have allowed their membership to lapse, but INFORMS will not consider requests when a Fellow is deceased. INFORMS maintains a comprehensive list of all Fellows: https://www.informs.org/Recognizing-Excellence/Fellows/Elected-Fellows

3 It is the responsibility of the VPM&PR, working with INFORMS Executive Director, to ensure that all steps are followed in a timely manner and to make procedural decisions consistent with this document.

4 A finding from INFORMS itself could be the basis for a revocation request, such as a report produced due to an investigation of alleged inappropriate behavior at the INFORMS meeting.

5 If a revocation request based on a specific finding (e.g. a report) is not supported in the process, a materially new documented finding would be necessary if another revocation request is made for the same Fellow.