Statements

The American Crystallographic Association (ACA) advances, promotes and preserves crystallography, structural science, and allied disciplines for the benefit of humankind. The ACA provides students, young scientists and experienced crystallographers with opportunities to exhibit their achievements in research, creative and scholarly activities, and leadership. The ACA contributes to the intellectual, economic and scientific advancement of the communities and individuals it serves though conferences, publications and public outreach.
The American Crystallographic Association (ACA) is committed to serving students and young scientists through education, and embraces its role as a leader and collaborative partner to meet the educational and research aspirations of structural scientists in North America and around the world. Our dynamic environment shapes the association to realize our shared future. The ACA informs every dimension of its activities - cultivating learning, discovery of knowledge and encouraging shared leadership - to position the ACA as a model scientific interdisciplinary society.
 
The American Crystallographic Association (ACA) will actively respond to the needs and opportunities of structural scientists in North America by pursuing innovative partnerships, by adhering to our fundamental commitment to provide educational and research experiences to students and young scientists, and by supporting life-long learning and career development.
 
The American Crystallographic Association is committed to diversity and inclusiveness in our membership, as well as in all activities, events, and programs, and services. Scientific innovation requires bringing together both diverse ideas and people from varied backgrounds who may have different world views and ways of solving problems. The ACA seeks to include and engage members across age, gender identity and expression, race, nationality, ethnicity, physical ability, marital status, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, military or veteran status, or any other facet of social diversity in our society and seeks to remove obstacles to their professional growth and advancement. Through our actions at the international, national, and local levels, we strive to promote inclusion in academic, industrial, and government institutions for both current and future members of our organization.

 

[Adopted by ACA Council on April 28, 1996]
 

Members are expected to follow the highest ethical standards in their scientific activities and in their interactions with other colleagues. The scientific results of research should be made available to the community in an appropriate manner. It is the responsibility of all members to guard against misconduct. Special attention should be paid to the following:

  1. All papers for which crystallographic structural results are part of the scientific content must have as one of the authors the crystallographer who did the work.

  2. Every publication should list, as authors, all participants in that research who are able to defend part or all of the new scientific results. Authors must give proper credit to previous work done by others that is germane to the topic.

  3. Crystallographic papers should contain atomic coordinates or an indication where they were deposited and how copies may be obtained. Because original data serve as the basis for the correctness of the scientific conclusions it is recommended that measured intensities or F(obs) values and their estimated standard deviations be deposited in an appropriate archive easily accessible to the community. Where a structure determination is not reported in a publication, the authors should arrange for the numerical information to be deposited in an appropriate database.

  4. When reference is made to a coordinate set taken from a data bank, credit should be given to the original depositors. However it is sufficient to cite the data bank if the data are only being used for statistical purposes. When structural information that is not published in the open literature or is not deposited in a public data bank is to be used in a publication, permission for such use should be sought from the originator of the structural information.

  5. Senior scientists should use the laboratory setting to ensure that those whom they supervise understand the values, ethical prescriptions, and institutional guidelines governing research.

  6. Scientists must guard against conscious or unpremeditated lapses in ethics when reviewing papers and grant proposals.

  7. Authors should not present the same paper, either orally or as a poster, if the paper has already been accepted and/or presented at another national or international scientific meeting.

  8. None of the ACA ethical guidelines excludes or replaces ethical guidelines promulgated by other scientific organizations.

 


Policies

The ACA recognizes the positive impact that a conference speaking opportunity has on an individual's track record and visibility. We also recognize that some sections of the scientific community are often under- represented in conference programs, and that this can affect diversity in the long-term. Our policies were developed to ensure quality and equality.
The program chairs will ensure the highest quality scientific program, with speakers that represent the broad diversity of our community. We aim to achieve a speaker and program chair balance that reflects the make-up of our community without bias with regard to gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, race, religion, geography, disabilities, or national origin.
We will report statistics on the conference website on the geographic and gender balance of invited speakers, selected speakers, session chairs, and attendees.
 
[Wording of this policy generously provided by American Geophysical Union]
The ACA Meeting is an annual event providing scientists from a wide variety of backgrounds the opportunity to exchange cutting edge ideas and techniques in multiple areas of research. Each meeting highlights various aspects of crystallography and demonstrates their significance to the greater scientific community. ACA is committed to providing a safe, productive, and welcoming environment for all meeting participants and ACA staff. All participants, including, but not limited to, attendees, speakers, volunteers, exhibitors, ACA staff, service providers and others are expected to abide by this ACA Meetings Code of Conduct. This Code of Conduct applies to all ACA meetings and meeting related events, including those sponsored by organizations other than ACA but held in conjunction with ACA events, in public or private facilities.
 
This code of conduct will be in force after ratification by the Council of the ACA on the 24th day of March 2016.
 
Expected Behavior
  • All participants, attendees, ACA staff, and vendors should treat each other with respect and consideration, valuing a diversity of views and opinions.
  • They should be considerate, respectful, and collaborative with others.
  • They should communicate openly with respect for others, critiquing ideas rather than individuals.
  • They should avoid personal attacks directed toward other attendees, participants, ACA staff, and suppliers/vendors.
  • They should be mindful of their surroundings and their fellow participants. ACA staff should be alerted if you notice a dangerous situation or someone in distress.
  • They should respect the rules and policies of the meeting venue, hotels, ACA contracted facility, or any other venue.
Unacceptable Behavior
  • Harassment, intimidation, or discrimination in any form will not be tolerated.
  • Physical or verbal abuse of any attendee, speaker, volunteer, exhibitor, ACA staff member, service provider, or other meeting guest will not be tolerated.
  • Examples of unacceptable behavior include, but are not limited to, verbal comments related to gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, national origin, inappropriate use of nudity and/or sexual images in public spaces or in presentations, or threatening or stalking any attendee, speaker, volunteer, exhibitor, ACA staff member, service provider, or other meeting guest.
  • Recording or taking photography of another individual's presentation without the explicit permission of ACA is not allowed.
  • Disruption of talks at oral or poster sessions, in the exhibit hall, or at other events organized by ACA at the meeting venue, hotels, or other ACA contracted facilities.
Consequences
  • Anyone requested to cease unacceptable behavior will be expected to comply immediately.
  • ACA staff (or their designee) or security may take any action deemed necessary and appropriate, including immediate removal from the meeting or the conference without warning or refund.
  • ACA reserves the right to prohibit attendance by anyone violating this code of conduct at any future meeting.
  • For repeated or flagrant violations membership in ACA may be cancelled or suspended by action of a majority of the executive board.
Reporting Unacceptable Behavior
  • If you are the subject of unacceptable behavior or have witnessed any such behavior, please immediately notify an ACA staff member or ACA volunteer in a leadership position.
  • Notification should be done by contacting an ACA staff person on site or by emailing your concern to [email protected].
  • Anyone experiencing or witnessing behavior that constitutes an immediate or serious threat to public safety is advised to contact 911 and locate a hotel house phone and ask for security.
 

Privacy Policy

The American Crystallographic Association (ACA) respects the privacy of members and operates according to the following policies. This Privacy Policy describes the information that the ACA collects, how this information is collected, and what is done with the collected data.

Where Do We Collect Data From?

The ACA receives your personal data from these sources:

      • Websites (ACA owned or managed), including but not limited to www.amercrystalassn.org where you create accounts to access products and services and provide personal information for membership purposes. For example, we can also collect information submitted when submitting a nomination and/or submitting an abstract.
      • Mobile applications; for example, a conference planner app.
      • ACA contracted vendors who provide a specific service related to the delivery of a product or service, including those for which you provide registration information such as, paper submissions, conference registrations, career searches, grant applications.
      • Third-party individuals, including nominators submitting information about you as a nominee for an award or potential reference.
      • ACA-contracted partners, including co-sponsors for meetings and peer societies.
      • Your correspondence to us via mail, email or fax.

What Data Is Being Collected?

Personal Information: The ACA collects Personal Information of members that is voluntarily provided to us, such as your name and email address, to receive services as they relate to membership within the ACA such as email alerts and newsletters. The ACA may also use page tags in html-based emails which allow us to see whether specific users have opened, forwarded, or clicked on a link in an email.

Non-Personal Information: The ACA uses cookies to track user activity on the site and also to collect non-personal information. The ACA website does log the following:

• IP Address (we anonymize Internet Protocol (IP) addresses)
• Visit History (pages & downloads)
• Agent Info (Browser information, Operating System information, etc)
• Searches
• Search Clicks

This information is maintained and used in aggregate form only and does not contain personally identifiable information.

Notice to EU Users: The server for http://www.amercrystalassn.org/ is located in the United States. By entering information on this site, you are consenting to the transfer of that information to the United States. Your information will be handled in accordance with ACA's Privacy Policy.

How Collected Information Is Used:

  • The primary purpose of gathering information is to allow ACA to link a name and contact information to a user ID and/or to enhance your browsing experience and/or to carry-out/enhance services associated with membership in the ACA.
  • The ACA does have a policy in place to rent mailing lists and/or email addresses of members to corporate Affiliates, Non-Profit Organizations, and Commercial Organizations. The ACA reviews any potential mailing, limits use of the list to one time per request, and requires that the list and media be destroyed after its specified use.
  • The ACA offers an option to remove your information from any list that might be sold or given to another organization. To do so, please contact ACA Headquarters at [email protected].
  • The ACA may share aggregated (i.e., non-individual) demographic information with our partners and advertisers. This aggregated information cannot be related to identifiable individuals.

How We Keep Information Secure: The ACA is committed to safeguarding your information. We make commercially reasonable efforts to protect your information both online and off-line.

Data Security: To maintain data security, we have put in place appropriate procedures to safeguard all sensitive information. The ACA continually monitors the security status of its networks and has taken appropriate measures to ensure intrusion prevention.

Ecommerce: ACA adheres to the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard developed to protect account and transaction information of cardholders. We partner with a secure and reliable payment system provider and employ industry-standard anti-fraud measures.

Opt-Out For European Union & Other Users: In accordance with EU and other guidelines, you may decline to provide the information requested by ACA. Please be advised, however, that ACA may be unable to provide certain services unless such information is provided for security and identification purposes.

Cookies: A "cookie" is a file a website places in your computer for future reference. The ACA does use cookies to improve some of its services, such as membership renewal online. Information supplied through an ACA cookie is used only by ACA and is not shared with others.

Links: ACA sites contain links to other sites, and other sites have links to ACA. Please be aware that ACA is not responsible for the privacy practices (or other practices, goods, services, or content) of other sites. We encourage you to be aware when you leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each website that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by ACA.

Protection Of Children's Personal Information: ACA sites are general audience sites and do not knowingly collect any personal information from children.

Notification Of Changes: If we make material changes to our privacy policy, these changes will be posted to this page. You should review this page regularly for updates.

Opt-Out & ACA Contact Information: If you have any questions or suggestions regarding this Privacy Notice, please contact the ACA at:

American Crystallographic Association
700 Ellicott Street
Buffalo, NY 14203
Phone: (716) 898-8690
Fax: (716) 898-8695
 

Feedback

We welcome feedback on the above listed statements, policies and/or procedures and how same might be improved. Contact Us!