Bylaws

Internal regulations

1. Constitution

The section was established on April 24, 2001 by one representative for each of the seven Belgian University Hospitals, and by seven surgeons not full-time affiliated to a university, hereafter called the founding members:

2. Name

The name of this new section of the Belgian Royal Society for Surgery shall be Belgian Section for Abdominal Wall Surgery. Since the Section is a subgroup of the Royal Belgian Society for Surgery, the Board of the Section delegates one representative on the Board of the Royal Belgian Society for Surgery. His mandate respects the bylaws of the Royal Belgian Society for Surgery.

3. Language

The official language will be English, but French or Flemish are allowed.

4. Objectives

a. Principal
The Section aims to improve the quality of the surgery of the entire abdominal wall in Belgium. The Section aims to represent surgeons from Belgium with a specific interest in abdominal wall surgery.

Members of the Board will be delegated to establish and maintain relations with Belgian, European or other national and international organisations, societies, and councils.

b. Scientific objectives
The scientific objectives of the Section are to improve knowledge of abdominal wall surgery in Belgium.

Scientific meetings and workshops will be organised either for all members or for working groups. Scientific meetings of the Section will be organised in the context of the scientific program of the Belgian Royal Society for Surgery, including the Belgian Week of Surgery.

The Section will organise and support clinical or experimental studies in the field of abdominal wall surgery, following the rules specified in the appendix.

All scientific projects organised in the name of the Section and their results must be submitted to and approved by the scientific committee, before national or international presentation or publication.

Any Ordinary member can submit a scientific project to the board of the Section. The rules in the appendix have to be respected, as well as for publications or presentations of a study project in name of the Section.

c. Extra-scientific objectives
Improved quality of abdominal wall surgery will be based on increasing knowledge and skills as well as on continuous survey and audit of training and practice.

The Section will make efforts to improve training in abdominal wall surgery and to develop evidence-based guidelines.

The Section will contribute to the survey (audit) of abdominal wall surgery in Belgium. These efforts will be performed in close collaboration with all councils, boards, and governmental organisations already involved or having information.

5. Board

The board includes the President, the General Secretary, the Assistant General Secretary, the Treasurer and three members of the scientific committee. The 14-founding members compose the first board. It has to install and organise the Section. It is empowered to co-opt other members as required. After a transitory period of installation and organisation, the General Assembly of the Section will directly elect the Board.

The President will be replaced every two years. He will be nominated by the Board among the Ordinary members, and will be elected by the General Assembly. The outgoing President is not immediately re-eligible as President. He can be re-elected immediately in an other function or as President after at least two years. An alternation between universities, non universities and linguistic communities will be respected.

The other Board members will be elected every three years. They must be Ordinary members of the Section. Nominations should be submitted to the Board, and supported by two Ordinary members of the Section. Outgoing members are re-eligible. In case of absence of nomination from the membership, or in the event of resignation of a Board member before expiry, the Board will be empowered to fill the vacancy. The Board will also be empowered, at any time, to co-opt other members if required by any particular condition. In any way, all modifications should be submitted and approved by the next General Assembly of the Section.

University and nonuniversity members will be present on a 50/50 base, except if vacancies remain open.

The Board will meet whenever necessary and at least before the General Assembly and before every scientific meeting. The minutes of every Board meeting have to be sent only to the Board members.

6. General Assembly

The General Assembly is composed of all the Ordinary members of the Section, and is chaired by the president of the Section. The Assembly is held at least once a year.

The General Assembly may be called in meeting by the Board each time that it is judged useful or at the demand of a fifth of the members. The secretary addresses convocations by mail to the members, at least thirty days prior to the meeting.

Ordinary members can be represented by an other member in the General Assembly.  Each attending member cannot represent more than one member.

Decisions are taken on a simple majority of votes and they are made known to all members. In case of a tied vote, that of the president will decide.

The General Assembly cannot deliberate unless at least half of its members are present or represented in the following cases

1. modification of bylaws
2. revocation of board members
3. dissolving the section

7. Membership

Ordinary member: 
can be Ordinary member of the Section, the surgeon who is member of the Royal Belgian Society for Surgery (titular, corresponding or ordinary member), practises surgery in Belgium and has an interest in abdominal wall surgery.

Junior member:
can be Junior member of the Section, the surgeon in training who is member of the Royal Belgian Society for Surgery (junior member).and has an interest in abdominal wall surgery.

Honorary member :
can be Honorary member of the Section, anyone considered to have made an outstanding contribution to the field of abdominal wall surgery

Corporate member:
any member of a company or organisation with an interest in abdominal wall surgery

Associate member:
any member with an interest in abdominal wall surgery who is no surgeon (eg research fellow)

All applicants for membership must directly be submitted to the General Secretary on an individual basis. The Board has the final decision.

8. Scientific committee

The scientific committee will include 6 Ordinary members and delegate three members to the Board, appointed by the scientific committee. University and nonuniversity members will be present on a 50/50 base, except if vacancies remain open. This committee will be in charge of all the scientific aspects of the Section, such as the control of multicentre studies and of the scientific papers or communications issued from the Section.

9. Finances

The financial resources of the Section exist in the contribution of Ordinary members, sympathisers and financial sponsorship.

In the event of dissolution of the Section, its assets shall go to the Belgian Royal Society for Surgery.

10. Amendments

Any member may submit a proposed amendment to the Board at least sixty days prior to the annual meeting.

APPENDIX

1. Studies organised by the Section

Ordinary members can submit a scientific project to the scientific committee of the Section. The project should consist of a full written introduction, including the aim(s) of the study, methods, patients ,statistics and all references. If the project is accepted, the designer of the project becomes the project leader.

The project leader will present a protocol only to those members of the Section that are prepared to enter patients into the study. A list of all members that receive a copy will be kept by the Scientific Committee of the Section. The Scientific Committee will be kept informed about the evolution and all problems of the study. A copy of all data of any study, including the full database, must be given to the Scientific Committee at the end of the study.

2. Publications and scientific presentations of studies organised by the Section

The text of all abstracts or articles concerning a study on behalf of the Section, will be submitted to the Scientific Committee, before any submission.

In case of publication of a study project performed on behalf of the Section, the project leader will be the first author of the publication. If he wishes to yield his right, the Scientific Committee can designate the first author, taking into account the number of entered patients. The project leader then automatically becomes the last author. The first author has the duty to provide a first version of a manuscript to all co-authors and to the Board of the Section within 3 months after entering the last data. If he omits his duty, the Scientific Committee can designate another first author, again taking into account the number of entered patients. In collaboration with the project leader, the first author must provide a definitive version, ready for submission to a scientific journal, within 6 months after entering the last patient data.

The list of co-authors will be determined by the 10 % rule, i.e. any member that entered at least 10 % of the patients will be a co-author.  If more than 20 % of the patients were entered by one centre, an additional co-author from that centre may be included per 10 % of patients entered. These co-authors must have actively participated in any part of the study. The ranking of co-authors will be based on the number of patients included in the study, starting from the second author.

The first page of a manuscript to be submitted for publication should include:

• author’s names (according to the rules cited here above)
• author’s institutional affiliations
• after author’s institutional affiliations, the sentence: “on behalf of the Belgian Section of Abdominal Wall Surgery, a section of The Royal Belgian Society for Surgery”.

A separate page, should enumerate in alphabetical order, the names of all colleagues that entered at least one patient into the study.

All problems related to the presentation or publication of the results of studies performed in the context of the Section, must be presented by the project-leader to the Scientific Committee of the Section, in the presence of those involved in any eventual problem.

The Scientific Committee will always try to solve/prevent problems. If necessary, the Board will decide by majority of votes. In case of equality, the vote of the President will be decisive.

At any oral presentation of a study performed in the context of the Section, the first slide, overhead, a/o. should mention “on behalf of the Belgian Section of Abdominal Wall Surgery, a section of the Royal Belgian Society for Surgery” and must be illustrated with the logo of the Section. The second slide or overhead a/o. should enumerate, in alphabetical order, all colleagues that have included at least one patient in the study.

The abstract of an oral presentation (also when submitted for selection) must mention the name of the authors followed by “on behalf of the Belgian Section of Abdominal Wall Surgery, a section of The Royal Belgian Society for Surgery”.