Web Site Management Policies | American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

Web Site Management Policies

Approved September 1997

Mission of the Website Management Committee

The mission the Website Management Committee is to provide information for the Academy membership on issues related to the Internet; develop policies which will provide guidance in the integration of the Internet into the organization, including committees, Work Groups, Regional Councils, indivdiual members, and the Academy National Office; and provide guidance in the development of the Internet and Academy Website in both technology and content.

Access

The Academy Website plays a role in the overall mission of the Academy to promote mentally healthy children, adolescents and families through research, training, advocacy, prevention, comprehensive diagnosis and treatment, peer support and collaboration. The Academy Website averages more than 90,000 hits or 40,000 visitors per month and is accessed by individuals from all over the world. It has become a integral part of the efforts of the Academy to advocate for children, adolescents, and their families.

The Academy Website provides:

Global access to anyone who has a computer at no charge.
Information to both the membership and the general public.
Updates on legislative issues, practice issues, research findings, and general information on child and adolescent psychiatry and the mental illnesses that affect children and adolescents.
Member access to Academy documents in development and for open discussions.

Definitions

For the purposes of this document the following definitions apply:

Members: Members are individuals with Active, Fellow, or Life status who are current on their payment of annual membership dues.
Non-members: Non-members are child and adolescent psychiatrists who have not applied for membership in the Academy, have resigned from the Academy, or have let their membership lapse from non-payment of dues.
General Public or Others: Individuals who are not Members or Non-members are referred to as the general pubic or others. This would include other professional groups, parents, patients, legislators, media representatives, interested advocates, students, and all other interested parties.
Assembly of Regional Councils: The Assembly of Regional Councils is composed of Delegates (representatives) from the 55 Regional Councils of the Academy and provides a platform for state and local councils to exchange ideas and effect change.
Regional Councils: Regional Councils are state and local organizations, composed of child and adolescent psychiatrists from that area, which are self governing and work at the state and local level to strengthen the knowledge base of its members and advocate for children and adolescents affected by mental illnesses.
Components: Components of the Academy are 5 Work Groups which meet quarterly and are responsible for creating most Academy documents, more than 60 Committees, special Task Forces, and Study Groups.
For-Profit Organizations: For-Profit Organizations are in business for the purpose of making a profit and may be a corporation, partnership, or other recognized business structure.
Not-for-Profit Organizations: These organizations are not in business to make a profit and may be a government agency, a foundation, or a charity, service, or association that has received not-for-profit status through the Internal Revenue Service.
Website Manager: The Website Manager is the individual responsible for:

planning for future demand and determining hardware and personnel needs;
researching, purchasing, and installing software;
coordinating page mark-up and standardizing page style;
advising on and participating in overall website design; and
maintaining the web server.

Policies and Procedure

I. Content Oversight

Oversight for the content of the Academy Website is the shared responsibility of the Executive Committee, the Website Management Committee, and the Executive Director with input from the Director of Development and Communications.
Information approved by Academy governance bodies, e.g., the Executive Committee, the Council, the Assembly of Regional Councils, the Editorial Board of the Journal, the Editor of the AACAP News, or the Program Committee may be placed on the Academy Website without further review by the Website Management Committee.
Information traditionally produced by Academy staff, e.g., News Releases, Legislative Alerts, National office announcements, etc., may be placed on the Academy Website without further review.
Information not approved through established Academy procedures will be reviewed by the Website Management Committee. Content must meet the established standards of the Academy and relate to the education of the membership or the public.
The Director of Development and Communications, with the Executive Director, will set priorities for information being posted on the Academy Website to ensure the timely distribution of time sensitive materials.
Website design encompasses architectural structure of the site and is the responsibility of the Director of Development and Communications and the Website Manager with review and advice from the Website Management Committee.
Website style shall be in keeping with the overall style elements of the Academy. The Website Manager shall create a style for the Academy Website and maintain a standard application for the development of the Homepage and all other pages of the Academy. Style is monitored by the Director of Development and Communications and the Website Management Committee.

II. Placing Material on the Academy Website or Linking to the Academy Website:

There are eight categories or groups that may (1) make a request to place material on the Website or (2) ask that the Academy place a link on the Academy Website which refers to their site. At this time, it is impossible to control links to our website initiated from another website. The following policies govern the establishment of links from the Academy website to another entity.

The categories or groups likely to make requests are delineated below: members, non-members, general public, Assembly of Regional Councils, Regional Councils, Academy Components (committees, task forces, work groups), for-profit organizations, and not-for-profit organizations.

Individuals

Members:

The Academy shall consider links only to Active/Fellow/Life Members.
Members interested in having the Academy link to their personal Homepage should submit a request in writing to the Director of Development and Communications. Requests must include the URL and a print-out of the Homepage.
Requests will be reviewed regularly by the Website Management Committee. The requesting member will be notified within 30 days of receiving the request.
The Academy will provide a disclaimer assuming no responsibility for content displayed on a member website, however the assumption is that members will operate in an ethical manner and that content will be reasonable and appropriate in nature.
For a link to be established, only the following website content will be considered appropriate:

Training/Certifications
A current Curriculum Vitae
Areas of practice/interest
Language fluency
Past and current professional affiliations
Contact information
Medical Information which conforms to the AMA standards for medical website content:

Authorship: Authors and contributors, their affiliations, and relevant credentials should be provided.
Attribution: References and sources for all content should be listed clearly, and all relevant copyright information noted.
disclosure: Website "ownership" should be prominently and fully disclosed, as should any sponsorship, advertising, underwriting, commercial funding arrangements, or support, or potential conflicts of interest. This includes arrangements in which links to other sites are posted as a result of financial considerations. Similar standards should hold in discussion forums.
Currency: Dates that content was posted and updated should be indicated.

The following content is not allowed and will result in termination of the link:

Advertising for private or non-profit hospitals, clinics, or other institutions.
Product endorsements or links from the member Homepage to a particular product.
Personal information unbecoming to the profession.

The Academy will provide a letter of agreement of each link subscription outlining the responsibilities of the Academy and the Member.
Homepages will be monitored by the Academy.
The Academy charges a $100 annual fee for each link subscription.
A Member may contract with the Academy to have a website or Homepage created, updated, or maintained for a rate of $50/hour with a $50 minimum charge.
To maintain a constant link, a member must remain a member in good standing as determined by Membership Office. If a member forfeits his membership in the Academy, the member also forfeits the time remaining on his link subscription. If reinstated, the member must reapply and obtain a new subscription.

Non-member Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists

The Academy shall not link to non-member child and adolescent psychiatrist's websites, since there is no mechanism for controlling content.
Non-member child and adolescent psychiatrists are defined as those never having applied for active membership, having resigned from the Academy, or having let their membership lapse for non-payment of dues.
Non-members shall not be allowed to place content on the Academy website either for purposes of advertising or education.

Others

The Academy shall not link to an individual's websites.
Individuals shall not be allowed to place content on the Academy website either for purposes of advertising or education.

The Assembly of Regional Councils

The Assembly of Regional Councils may establish a page on the Academy website on which to place content, announcements, etc.
Content, including editing and appropriate approvals, for the Assembly page is the responsibility of the Assembly.
Maintenance and updating of the Assembly page(s) will be considered part of the business of the National Office which is responsible for allocating resources and setting priorities for the Academy Website.

Regional Councils

The 55 Regional Councils of the Academy are encouraged to create individual Websites which the Academy will link to upon request from the Chair of the Assembly who will verify the site has met the requirements established by the Assembly of Regional Councils and does not violate the governing policies of the Academy Website.

Medical Information must conform to the AMA standards for medical website content.

Advertising for private or non-profit hospitals, clinics, or other institutions.
Product endorsements or links from the member Homepage to a particular product.
Personal information unbecoming to the profession.

The Academy will provide a disclaimer assuming no responsibility for content displayed on a member website, however the assumption is that members will operate in an ethical manner and that content will be reasonable and appropriate in nature.
There will be no annual fee for such links at this time, but this policy may be reconsidered at a future date.
Content mark-up and/or updating of web pages, on a Regional website is the responsibility of the Regional Council and not the Academy.
Each Regional Council may request a 1-hour free consultation with the Website Manager regarding website development.
Thereafter, a Regional Council may contract with the National Office to develop and/or maintain a Regional website for a charged $65 per hour for basic web-page mark-up and updating. Fees for more complex applications, e.g. forms, CGI, or databases will be negotiated on an individual basis.
AACAP Components

The work groups, committees, and task forces of the Academy are encouraged to maintain a presence on the website.
The Academy will link to a Component website upon request by the Chair of the Component and approval by the Website Management Committee under the same conditions as cited for Regional Councils.
The Academy will consider requests from a Component to develop and establish a single page on the Website.

Such pages will be developed on a time available basis within the normal priorities of the National Office.
Pages will follow a standard style and format provided by the Website Manager.
Academy staff may, upon request, assist in development of initial page content.

Component pages on the Academy Website will remain static with requests for updates considered no more than once every six months.
Components of the Academy may establish a forum on the web to present material or ideas for comment by contacting the Website Manager.
Component chairs are responsible for monitoring and maintaining their forum on no less than a monthly basis.

Organizations

For-Profit Organizations

Educational Information:

All requests from For-Profit Organizations will be thoroughly reviewed by the Website Management Committee for educational value and member appropriateness.
Educational Information supported in any way by For-Profit Organizations shall follow Continuing Medical Education (CME) guidelines and not harbor any direct or indirect advertisements.
Educational Information would be available to members, and in certain instances possibly available to non-members.

Direct Links to For-Profit Organization Websites

No direct or indirect advertisement of companies or products will be sanctioned on the Academy website.
For an annual fee of $10,000 the Academy may establish a direct link from the Academy Home Page to a For-Profit Organization.
For-profit organizations must meet the following criteria for a link to be considered by the Academy:

Present information of a non-political nature.
Have educational value to the membership and the public.
Claim no endorsement by the Academy for their products or organization.

Not-for-Profit Organizations

Links will be placed to national and governmental non-for-profit organizations that provide information on children's health, mental health, and other topics of interest to Members and Consumers.
Links will not be placed to individuals acting as a not-for-profit provider of information or small organizations with a visible board of directors and recognized governance policies.
Organizations not currently recognized by the Academy may request a link in writing through the Director of Communications. Requests will be reviewed by the Website Management Committee.

III. Research

Members, researchers, and the general public benefit from having a research information available on the Website. Research information is divided into two distinct categories: 1) a searchable database ongoing research; and 2) research abstracts from the Journal and the Scientific Proceedings of the Annual Meeting.

Research Protocols: The Research Protocols section will post information concerning on-going research, abstracts, information about researchers, and information on how to contact researchers regarding subject recruitment.

The Academy will establish Research Protocols upon requests from researchers and the approval of the Work Group on Research.
Protocols will be included in the Members Only section of the website and/or the public area of the website on the direction and request of the researcher.
Protocols must follow the established format provided and descriptions must be reasonable in length. Researchers may be asked to revise requests of unreasonable length.
There will be a $100/6 month fee charged for each section of the website, i.e., if they wish the protocol to be in both the Members Only and the public areas of a website the charge is $200 per 6 months.

Abstracts: Abstracts of scientific work add to the knowledge base and understanding of mental illnesses on the part of both the public and the membership. The Academy will maintain a strong presence in research on the web by including the following in the Research section of the website:

The Abstracts of each monthly publication of the Journal.
Abstracts of the Scientific Proceedings of the Annual Meeting.
From time to time, other significant studies approved by the Work Group on Research which meet all requirements of the Website Policies.

IV. Budget/Development

The Director of Finance and Technology, the Director of Development and Communications, and the Website Manager are responsible for an annual report outlining the developments on the website over the past year and projections for the future. This report will be due to the Committee no later than June 30.
The Director of Finance and Technology, the Director of Development and Communications, and the Website Manager will develop a proposed budget for the coming fiscal year and submit it to the Committee with a budget justification no later than June 30.
The Website Management Committee will review the proposed budget for appropriateness, approve or adjust the budget, and submit it to the Director of Finance no later than July 31.
The budget request and justification will be presented to the Executive Office for incorporation into the Academy Annual Budget request to Council.
The Website Management Committee will be notified by the Director of Finance and Technology regarding approval of or adjustments to the Website budget so their projections and expectations for the Website remain in concert with the resources available.