Contribution charter

By contributing to the Humanitarian Encyclopedia,

you declare that you have read and agree to abide by this charter

without restriction or reservation, prior to submitting your contribution.

The Humanitarian Encyclopedia is an inclusive online space for dialogue and promotes the co-production of knowledge to enhance collaboration in future humanitarian responses. The purpose of this charter is to define the principles and values for contributions to the Humanitarian Encyclopedia platform.

Contributions to the Humanitarian Encyclopedia can be made by logged users with a profile on the platform. Contributions include the following:

• Contributing to an open Concept Entry
• Editing a covered Concept Entry or work in progress
• Writing an Expertise Note
• Tagging Concept Entries, Expertise Notes, Library Resources, and Forum Topics
• Uploading a document to the Library
• Adding an organisation to the Humanitarian Organisation Database
• Editing an existing organisation in the Humanitarian Organisation Database
• Adding an institution to the Humanitarian Education Database
• Editing an existing institution in the Humanitarian Education Database
• Discussing topics on the Humanitarian Encyclopedia Forum (For specific guidelines on the use of Discourse forums, please see https://forum.humanitarianencyclopedia.org/guidelines)

To make a contribution, you first need to create a user account. Then go to your concept of interest and apply to author a Concept Entry or write an Expertise Note, or access any other feature of the platform.

General principles

By contributing to the Humanitarian Encyclopedia, you adhere to the following principles: 

Respect for diversity

• Recognise the right of everyone to different opinions and views
• Refrain from submitting anything insulting, defamatory or racist
• Behave online as you would in your real life community 
• Remember that other humans are behind the online profiles you engage with

Collaboration and co-production

• Discuss your ideas with authors and other users before applying to edit a contribution
• Reach consensus where possible and respect diversity where it is present
• Find the most relevant part of the platform to submit your contribution
• Avoid duplication of existing content, particularly resources, organisations and institutions 

Quality assurance

• Ensure your contributions are well researched and based on best available information
• Adhere to the style guide, editorial guidelines and content specifications for each contribution type
• Check and refine your submissions before submitting to minimise editorial work

Prohibited behaviours

The following are prohibited:

1. Attacks or innuendoes based on race, religion, ethnic origin, gender or sexual orientation
2. Insults, harassment, unsubstantiated claims or inaccurate statements about individuals or organisations
3. Advertisements and classified ads
4. Messages containing personal information that may infringe on the respect of privacy
5. Obscene or pornographic messages
6. Plagiarism of any kind, including the reproduction of texts without citing their source or the submission of content that is subject to copyright without permission
7. The moderators are the sole judges of the contributions received and reserve the right to apply these rules by refusing content that contravene them without prior notice or agreement.

Moderation and review

All contributions to the Humanitarian Encyclopedia are subject to review by the moderator. Moderation is centrally administered by staff of the Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies, who may delegate certain moderation rights to reviewers with expertise on a given contribution.

All contributors agree to respect the decisions of the moderator, and engage in constructive dialogue to find a solution if aggrieved by a decision.

Licensing and credit

The Humanitarian Encyclopedia is a project conceived in the spirit of information and knowledge sharing. In particular, in the spirit of co-producing a living repository of knowledge, certain content on the Humanitarian Encyclopedia may be subject to editing and updating by future users of the platform. Future authors may apply to edit or update a Concept Entry section, sub-section, humanitarian organisation, institution, resource or other content on the Humanitarian Encyclopedia platform. Wherever possible, the Humanitarian Encyclopedia will aim to foster collaborative updating processes to ensure constructive and consensual evolution of content.

Contributions to the Humantiarian Encyclopedia are licensed under a Creative Commons "Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License".