By-laws for the Kettil Bruun Society for Social and Epidemiological Research on Alcohol
NAME
1. The name of the Society will be “Kettil Bruun Society for Social and Epidemiological Research on Alcohol”.
OBJECTIVES
2. The objectives of the Society will be to promote social and epidemiological research on alcohol and to foster a comparative understanding of the social aspects of alcohol use and alcohol problems. The Society will also promote the spirit of international cooperation among and through its members.
ACTIVITIES
3. To fulfil these objectives the Society will engage in the following activities:
a) It serves as a medium for comparative projects on the social aspects of alcohol use and alcohol problems.
b) It sponsors international seminars on topics of theoretical, methodological or substantive importance.
c) It organizes regular general meetings for the presentation of research papers and discussion of scientific issues in social and epidemiological alcohol research.
d) It engages in additional activities approved by the Coordinating Committee with the consent of the membership.
MEMBERSHIP and CONDITIONS of MEMBERSHIP
4. The membership of the Society shall consist of Regular Members and Affiliate Members.
5. All applicants for regular membership must be scientists working on problems related to social and epidemiological research on alcohol. They will be admitted into the Society by majority vote of the Coordinating Committee.
6. The individual will become a member with full voting rights and other privileges of membership upon admittance by the Coordinating Committee and payment of annual dues. Non-payment of dues will lead to loss of membership six months after the final period paid for, unless special arrangements are made.
Dues are payable to the Secretary-Treasurer. The amount is decided at the Membership Meeting.
7. Persons not eligible for regular membership are eligible to become Affiliate Members by a majority decision of the Coordinating Committee. Affiliate Members will have no voting rights. In all other respects, they will have the same rights as regular members.
8. A person who, in the past three years, has conducted, commissioned or disseminated research for an organisation1 (a) producing, distributing, selling or promoting alcoholic beverages, (b) proxies or affiliates of (a) or, (c) which is an advocacy, trade or Social Aspects Organisation for an industry included in (a), is neither eligible to be a member of the Kettil Bruun Society, nor eligible to make a presentation at and/or attend a meeting of the Society. That none of these specifications apply to the individual concerned must be declared on an application for membership, for renewal of membership, and in submitting an abstract for presentation and/or attending a Society meeting/event.
1Excluding public-health oriented government monopolies
KBS EVENTS
9. A declaration of potential conflicts of interest must be included in submitting an abstract for a presentation at a Society meeting, included in the full paper submitted to the symposium, and disclosed at the start of the presentation. The declaration should include the nature and amount of any funding received in the previous 3 years from any organisation within the categories in by-law 8, or from industry-funded research councils, such as ERAB, ABMRF, and DrinkWise. “Funding” includes research costs, salaries, speaker fees, accommodation, transportation, and meals, but is not restricted to these. In case of such funding, any role of the funder in design, implementation and write-up of the research should be specified. In case there is no such interest to declare, the declaration can be “No conflict of interest to declare”.
10. A COI working group shall monitor and enforce by-law 8. The working group shall also serve to ensure, in collaboration with local organisers of symposia, that members and presenters provide COI declarations (by-law 9). If necessary, the committee will propose further changes to the by-laws as required. The COI group shall decide on individual cases as to whom does or does not meet the specified criteria, in consultation with the President, who may involve the Coordinating Committee in cases of doubt.
COORDINATING COMMITTEE
11. The property and business of the Society shall be managed by a Coordinating Committee consisting of a President, a President-elect and a Vice-President and nine other members. The members shall represent a minimum of six different countries. The President, President-elect and Vice-President shall be from three different countries. Each member of the Coordinating Committee shall be considered to represent the country of his or her primary research affiliation, regardless of country or birth or citizenship. The Coordinating Committee will be elected from and by the membership.
12. The President, President-elect and Vice-President of the Society shall serve for a two-year term, and may not be re-elected to the office in which they have served without a break in service. After serving two years as President-elect, this officer shall then serve another two-year term as President. The term of office of each other Member of the Coordinating Committee shall be four years. No Member shall serve for more than eight years without a break in service.
13. At least six months before the end of the current term of office for officers elected directly by the members, the Nominations Committee will issue a call for nominations. In addition to such nominations by members, the Nominations Committee will make nominations, taking note of the requirement for geographical representation of the officers, which shall be distributed to all voting members. Nominations for officers shall be organized into two lists, one for President-Elect and Vice-President, and one for other Members of Coordinating Committee.
Candidates are required to complete a declaration of conflict of interest with respect to the alcohol industry, in the standard KBS format to be included with candidate information for members.
Each voting member is entitled to vote for two candidates on the President-Elect and Vice-President list, and for as many candidates on the Coordinating Committee list as there are seats known to be open for election at the time the ballot is prepared. The candidate receiving the highest number of votes on the President-Elect, and Vice-President list is elected as President-Elect. The candidate receiving the highest number of votes from the remaining candidates who are not from the same country as the President-Elect is elected as Vice-President.
Candidates on the Members list are elected in order of the number of votes received, except that candidates shall not be elected if their election would violate the provision that Coordinating Committee membership must be drawn from at least six different countries. If positions with different terms are open, candidates receiving higher vote-totals will fill the longer-term positions. All Coordinating Committee positions known to be open when the election is counted will be filled at that time, including the position of a newly elected President-Elect or Vice-President who would have held a continuing Coordinating Committee seat.
At the Society’s initial election, 5 Coordinating Committee seats will be filled for 4 years and 4 for 2 years. In subsequent elections, the full term of each seat shall be 4 years, and those elected to fill a seat vacated in mid-term shall serve only until the end of the original term.
Terms of office of directly elected officers of the Society will begin at the commencement of the next Membership Meeting following their election. Incumbent officers will remain in office until this time.
14. Meetings of the Coordinating Committee may be held at any time and place to be determined by the Committee, provided that 60 days’ notice of such meetings shall be sent in writing to each member of the Committee. No formal notice shall be necessary if all members are present at the meeting or waive notice thereof in writing. A meeting of the Coordinating Committee will be held without further notice in conjunction with each Membership Meeting. On the initiative of the President, the Coordinating Committee may make decisions on any matter of business by mail.
A quorum for any decision of the Coordinating Committee will be one-half of the current members of the Committee including the President, President-Elect or Vice-President. All decisions of the Coordinating Committee will be by majority vote of those voting.
15. The Coordinating Committee shall take such steps as they may deem requisite to enable the Society to receive donations and benefits for the purpose of furthering the objectives of the Society.
The Coordinating Committee may seek associations with other organizations in order to further the objectives of the Society. Any such association requires majority approval of voting on a mail ballot to the membership.
16. The Coordinating Committee may appoint from the members of the Society a committee or committees, including the Nominations Committee and Meeting Organizing Committees.
17. The Nominations Committee shall comprise three members. The members shall be appointed by the Coordinating Committee. This committee will be responsible for preparing the list of nominations for the Coordinating Committee and for conducting the election.
The members of the Nominations Committee will be ineligible for nomination for any election that they conduct.
18. The Meeting Organizing Committees shall carry out the organization of meetings in collaboration with local members. Together with the Secretary-Treasurer, the Meeting Organizing Committees shall organize the finances of the meetings.
THE OLE-JØRGEN SKOG AWARD
19. The purpose of the Ole-Jørgen Skog Award for Early Career Scientists is to recognize the excellence of papers presented by early career scientists at the annual symposium. The award is a cash prize, two years of membership in the Kettil Bruun Society and a certificate.
The best paper presented by an early career scientist (no more than 5 years in alcohol research) will be selected by the Ole-Jørgen Skog Award Committee and be based on its contribution to advancing knowledge in alcohol research and on its theoretical and methodological quality. Specific selection criteria, developed by the Committee, are available on each year’s conference website.
The Ole-Jørgen Skog Award Committee shall consist of 5 members of the Society who represent both qualitative and quantitative methodological approaches. The Committee shall consist of a chairman and 4 regular members. Members shall serve terms of 2 years and shall be appointed by the Coordinating Committee. Memberships shall be staggered with 2 members appointed in one year and 3 members appointed in the following year. It is desirable that at least one member of the Committee come from a low or middle income country.
KETTIL BRUUN SOCIETY AWARD FOR ADVANCEMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH COLLABORATION
20. The purpose of the award is to recognise outstanding and exemplary contributions to the advancement of international collaborations on social and epidemiological alcohol research. The scope of this field is broadly defined to include, for instance, historical and policy studies, public health research, studies of the ecology and functioning of treatment systems, and studies in ethnography, economics, psychology, sociology and other social sciences carried out in the interest of public health and welfare. The contributions should include sustained efforts in building cross-national research networks or collaborative studies, as well as a substantial publication record as an author or co-author in the field. The collaborations will not necessarily have been within the Kettil Bruun Society, and an awardee is not necessarily a Kettil Bruun Society member.
The award will be conferred with a Plaque, and with other concomitants of the award as determined by the Coordinating Committee. It will be conferred annually or less often, following the decision of a Selection Committee. The award selection committee shall consist of at least three members representing diverse disciplines and nations, and shall be named by the KBS Coordinating Committee for staggered three-year terms, starting with a committee with one member named for a 1-year, one for a 2-year and one for a 3-year term.
Nominations for the award will be solicited from KBS members starting with an announcement at each annual meeting of members. Nominations should include a statement of the candidate’s contributions to the advancement of international research collaboration in the field, and a curriculum vitae of the candidate. The selection committee should communicate its decision on the award to the Coordinating Committee by the following February 1, with the award made at that year’s annual KBS meeting.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ALCOHOL AND DRUG RESEARCH
21. The International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research (IJADR) is the scientific journal of the Kettil Bruun Society. The Journal will have one or more Co-Editors-in-Chief, and an Advisory Board, appointed by the KBS Coordinating Committee. The Co-Editor(s)-in-Chief and Advisory Board members will be appointed by the Coordinating Committee for a fixed term, with the appointment renewable. Other members of the Senior Editorial Board for the journal will be recommended by the Co-Editor(s)-in-Chief and appointed by the Advisory Board. The accounts of the Journal will be kept separately from the main KBS accounts. They will be kept in terms compatible with the Treasurer’s accounting for the Society, and will be supervised by and regularly reported to by the Treasurer to the Co-Com and the Membership at the annual Business Meeting.
22. Since offering a publication outlet for researchers from low- and middle-income countries and early-career researchers is an objective of the KBS and the IJADR, such researchers may apply for all or part of costs for an article’s publication to be paid by KBS. Decisions on such applications will be made by the Co-Editor(s)-in-Chief. The KBS Coordinating Committee will each year decide an allocation from KBS membership fees for a fund from which such publication costs can be paid, informed by the financial situation of the society.
OFFICERS
23. The President, as chief executive of the Society, will preside at the meetings of the Society and its Coordinating Committee.
The President will initiate and carry out policies in conformity with the Society’s purpose as specified by the Coordinating Committee.
24. The Vice-President will assume the duties of the President if the incumbent President resigns or dies and will perform such duties until a new President is elected and assumes office.
25. The Secretary shall be elected every two years by a majority of Coordinating Committee members voting.
The Secretary is responsible for communicating Society activities and plans to the members (via the website or e-mail) no less often than once a year. These include the time and place, as well as the organizers of seminars and workshops sponsored by the Society.
26. The Treasurer shall be elected every fifth year by a majority of Coordinating Committee members voting.
As financial officer of the Society, Treasurer receives the dues of the members and makes disbursements under the supervision of the Coordinating Committee to which he/she presents an annual report, available on request to any member.
The Treasurer shall prepare a membership list to be used for election purposes and announcements of annual meetings/thematic meetings.
27. The data management officer shall be elected every two years by a majority of Coordinating Committee members voting.
The data management officer coordinates the collection and storage of the members’ and symposia participants’ data and is responsible for the enforcement of the Privacy Statement of the Kettil Bruun Society (see separate regulation).
The data management officer shall be elected every fifth year by a majority of Coordinating Committee members voting.
MEMBERSHIP MEETING
28. A general meeting of members shall be held at least once a year in conjunction with an international meeting decided upon by the preceding Membership Meeting. At the Membership Meeting a discussion will be held of the future activities of the Society.
Announcement of the Membership Meeting will be made to the members at least three months in advance, together with a tentative agenda of business.
MAIL BALLOT
29. The Membership Meeting can, by majority of those voting, institute a mail ballot to the membership on any issue.
Upon a written petition of twenty members to the President within six months after the Membership Meeting, concerning any issue presented at the general meeting, the issue must be submitted to the members by mail ballot.
The Coordinating Committee, by majority, can also institute a mail ballot to the membership at any time.
REVISION OF THE BY-LAWS
30. Upon written petition of twenty members to the President or by a decision of the Coordinating Committee, an article or articles of these By-Laws can be submitted to the membership for revision. Revision requires majority approval of those voting on a mail ballot.
Last amended 10 June 2021