Ethics approval
It is the responsibility of each primary collaborator to ensure that the appropriate ethical approval has been obtained prior to data collection in relation to ManyBirds Project research. Ethics approval confirmation should be provided on the Data collection plan when signing up to collaborate. We are happy to provide advice regarding ethical approval applications if required – please contact us at: manybirdsproject1@gmail.com.
Data sharing agreement: ManyBirds Study 1 on neophobia in birds
The focus of this study is on neophobia in birds, specifically responses to novel objects, with a control condition where only familiar food is present. For the purposes of this study, each site has/will collect some pre-agreed data with their respective species following the data collection protocols outlined by the ManyBirds study 1 leadership team.
The data provided by other sites to the ManyBirds study 1 leadership team will be compiled by the team and prepared for the purposes of joint publications.
Data provided to the ManyBirds leadership team by collaborators will only be used for the prior agreed purposes of publication(s) relating to the original project outline. Any possible further consideration of data usage/ re-use by the ManyBirds leadership team and the current collaborators on this study must first be discussed with the collaborators, proceeding only with further agreement of this use and in return for authorship on publications as stipulated/ appropriate.
All data relevant to the publication(s) will be published openly alongside the article(s), in a stand-alone data file in a repository e.g. via Figshare or Dryad, as this is required by most journals and is good practice. Any post-publication requests for the videos (or photographic) data from a contributor will first be approved by that collaborator.
Each respective primary collaborator is responsible for storing their own data.
Authorship agreement
In return for significant contributions to the final manuscript(s), including data collection, data analysis, manuscript writing and other related tasks (with prior agreement with study 1 team), co-authorship will be assigned to primary collaborators and/or the person running the tests at each site as appropriate, in alphabetical order, after authorship is assigned for the study 1 leadership team. Official ManyBirds studies (e.g. Study 1 on neophobia) will typically list “ManyBirds Project” as the first author.
Primary collaborators are expected to assign further co-authorship within their lab/team depending on the contribution – both in terms of any prior agreement as well as the final delivered contribution (e.g., if data collection – agreed data is collected, and in such a way that it is able to be included in the final analysis and manuscript). The number of possible contributors will vary for each primary collaborator, depending on (for example) the number of individuals and/or species tested. As a general rule, co-authorship should be extended to anyone without whose contribution it would not have been possible to complete the data collection.
Our authorship guidelines are based on CRediT taxonomy
Conceptualization | Significant and sustained contribution to: leading, actively and participating in, documenting or summarizing discussions that lead to formulation or evolution of overarching research goals and aims |
Data curation | Management activities to merge and maintain research data (including software code, where it is necessary for interpreting the data itself) in an online repository for initial use and later reuse. Verification and organization of data submission. |
Formal analysis | Application of statistical, mathematical, computational, or other formal techniques to analyse or synthesize study data, provided these analyses are included in the paper or supplementary materials. |
Funding acquisition | Acquisition of the financial support for the project leading to this publication. Funds have to be distributed, in part, beyond one’s own facility. The latter point is met if personnel is hired that helps with coordination of the study. |
Investigation | Conducting research and investigation processes, specifically implementing the protocol to collect and submit data that meets submission requirements, and performing reliability coding and data entry. The data must be included in the final sample. |
Methodology | Development or design of methodology; creation of models. Writing/designing the pre-registration. |
Project administration | Management and coordination responsibility for the research activity planning and execution within the core administration or study teams. |
Resources | Providing of access to animals and supervising research activity at the site. Developing or providing critical instrumentation or equipment to institutions other than one’s own. |
Software | Programming, software development; designing computer programs; implementation of the computer code and supporting algorithms; testing of existing code components. |
Supervision | Oversight and leadership responsibility for the research activity planning and execution at local sites, including mentorship external to ManyBirds administrative team. |
Validation | Verification of the overall replication/reproducibility of results/experiments and other research outputs. |
Visualization | Creation of visualizations/data presentation, provided that these are included in the paper or supplementary materials. |
Writing | Preparation, creation, and/or presentation of the published work by those from the original research group, specifically original writing for at least 1 section (i.e., introduction, methods, results, discussion), critical review of the manuscript as a whole, commentary or revision – including pre- or post-publication stages of the entire manuscript. |
Journal selection
We will pre-register and pre-print all ManyBirds articles. Where possible, we aim to publish with open-access and select ethical journals/publishers that support Open Science-aligned initiatives (Logan, 2017)
ManyBirds Project: Code of Conduct
Prepared by ManyBirds Core Team Leads
Our Pledge
In the interests of fostering an open and welcoming environment, we as collaborators of ManyBirds pledge to make participation in our project, studies, related outputs and our community a welcoming, inclusive and safe experience for everyone. This experience is regardless of age, body size, disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, level of experience, education, socio-economic status, nationality, political perspective, status within the community, personal appearance, race, religion, sexual identity and orientation, or perceived thereof attributions.
All contributions are asked to adhere to our Code of Conduct. We reserve the right to remove anyone that is not adhering to this Code of Conduct from the ManyBirds Project and related outputs.
Our Standards
Examples of behavior that contribute to creating a positive environment include:
- Using welcoming and inclusive language
- Being respectful of differing viewpoints and experiences
- Gracefully accepting constructive criticism
- Focusing on what is best for the ManyBirds community and its projects
- Showing compassion towards other community members
- Ensuring respectful, intentional and considerate correspondence and confidentiality of information generated within the community
Examples of unacceptable behavior by collaborators include:
- The use of sexualized language or imagery and unwelcome sexual attention or advances
- Trolling, insulting/derogatory comments, and personal or political attacks
- Public or private harassment
- Publishing others’ private information, such as a physical or electronic address, without explicit permission
- Other conduct which could reasonably be considered inappropriate in a professional setting
- Disclosing ideas and information not yet publicly available with an external entity (e.g., individual, institution) or in a public forum, including via social media.
- Sharing private ManyBirds data online
- Misrepresenting ManyBirds on social media, including misrepresentation of ManyBirds or your position within ManyBirds
Our Responsibilities
The ManyBirds founders, core team and study team leads are responsible for clarifying the standards of acceptable behavior within relevant committees and projects and are expected to take appropriate and fair corrective action in response to any instances of unacceptable behavior. The ManyBirds core team leads have the right and responsibility to remove, edit, or reject comments, deal with issues, emails, social media posts, and other contributions that are not aligned to this Code of Conduct, or to ban temporarily or permanently any collaborator for other behaviors that they deem inappropriate, threatening, offensive, or harmful (physically or via damages to reputation).
Scope
This Code of Conduct applies within project spaces, social media avenues, professional events, and public spaces when an individual is representing ManyBirds, its community, or its research projects/intellectual property.
Enforcement
Instances of abusive, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behavior may be reported by contacting the founders and/or core team leads. All complaints will be reviewed and investigated and will result in a response that is deemed necessary and appropriate to the circumstances, ranging from discussion of these policies to expulsion from the group, including all mailing lists (either temporarily or permanently). It is at the complainant’s discretion to pursue additional action through other legal or institutional mechanisms. The core team leads are obligated to maintain confidentiality with regard to the reporter of an incident. Further details of specific enforcement policies may be posted separately.
Confidentiality
Project collaborators can reasonably expect their intellectual contributions to remain confidential and will not be distributed outside of meetings or documented outside of ManyBirds’s resources/files without prior permission from the relevant committee. Collaborators to the project are expected to maintain strict confidentiality regarding any information discussed during private meetings or project-related materials. The project’s standards must be upheld at all times, and any action that could potentially compromise its integrity should be avoided. Collaborators are urged to prioritize the project’s success and to act accordingly by adhering to the principles of confidentiality. Any questions or comments about confidentiality and sharing should be addressed to the founders and/or core team leads.
Attribution
This Code of Conduct is adapted from the ManyManys Code of Conduct and the ManyZoos Code of Conduct, which have been adapted from the ManyBabies Code of Conduct, which in turn were adapted from the Contributor Covenant, version 1.4 and from the Psych-DS Code of Conduct (retrieved on 2023-7-24).
Contribute
Note that this is a live document managed by the core team leads. Questions in areas that require clarification are explicitly encouraged. Last updated 6th November, 2023.
Get Involved
The ManyBirds Project is led by a Core Team of researchers, with separate specific Study Leadership Teams formed to lead on each study. If you are interested in collaborating or would like more information about the ManyBirds, please review our projects/ studies, sign up documents or contact us at: manybirdsproject1@gmail.com.