Constitution of the ACL Special Interest Group on Clinically Related Language (SIGClinical)

The purpose of the Association for Computational Linguistics (“the ACL”) Special Interest Group on Clinically Related Language (“the SIG”) shall be:

• to promote the study of approaches to processing clinically related language, both:
  • Clinic internal language, arising within the context of healthcare encounters, and
  • Clinic external language, arising in the so-called “clinical whitespace” surrounding healthcare encounters
• to foster engagement among members of the ACL, clinicians, and clinical researchers; and
• to sponsor timely meetings and workshops, such as the Workshop on Computational Linguistics and Clinical Psychology (CLPsych) and the Clinical Natural Language Processing Workshop (ClinicalNLP).

The SIG will operate within the framework of the ACL’s general guidelines for SIGs.

Membership

Membership is open to anyone interested in the study of approaches to processing clinically related language. ACL membership is not required. Membership can be obtained by filing an electronic membership request from the SIG website.

Membership will be terminated on request to the Secretary, or automatically if no reply is received within 2 months of a timely membership renewal request. Automatically terminated memberships will be reinstated on request.

Dues

The SIG does not charge dues.

Elected Officers

The elected officers of the SIG shall consist of a President, a President-elect, a Secretary, and a Secretary-elect. All officers shall be members in good standing of the ACL. The term of all elected officers of the SIG shall be 2 years, starting on January 1st of the year following their election.

The duties of the President shall be:

• To have primary executive authority over actions and activities of the SIG.
• To organize at least four meetings of the officers of the SIG each year.
• To vote upon organizers for meetings or workshops organized by the SIG.
• To act as a Liaison Representative, who shall be primarily responsible for communication with members of the SIG, answering inquiries about the SIG, and communication with the Executive Committee of the ACL.
• To prepare a written annual report on the activities of the SIG for the Executive Committee of the ACL.

The duties of the President-elect shall be:

• To attend the regular meetings of officers of the SIG as organized by the President.
• To vote upon organizers for meetings or workshops organized by the SIG.
• To assist the President in their duties.

The duties of the Secretary shall be:

• To attend the regular meetings of officers of the SIG as organized by the President.
• To vote upon organizers for meetings or workshops organized by the SIG.
• To maintain the website of the SIG.
• To maintain the email list of the SIG.
• To maintain the electronic membership request form of the SIG.
• To maintain the membership roster of the SIG.
• To be responsible for any monies awarded to the SIG by the ACL.
• To prepare a written annual report on the finances of the SIG for the Executive Committee of the ACL.

The duties of the Secretary-elect shall be:

• To attend the regular meetings of officers of the SIG as organized by the President.
• To vote upon organizers for meetings or workshops organized by the SIG.
• To assist the Secretary in their duties.

Elected officers of the SIG shall be elected by an anonymous vote of the membership, held in November of each year. Election of the President-elect shall be on the ballot in even numbered years. Elections of the Secretary-elect shall be on the ballot in odd numbered years. If a President, President-elect, Secretary, or Secretary-elect vacates their office before the end of their term, election of their position shall be held as soon as practically possible and no later than the next annual election. The President-elect and Secretary-elect shall become the President and Secretary, respectively, at the end of their terms.

Nominations shall be called at least two (2) months prior to the election, and shall close 1 month prior to the election. Candidates must be nominated by two (2) members (self-nomination is allowed), must accept the nomination, must be members in good standing of the ACL and of the SIG, and must represent expertise in clinic internal language or clinic external language such that:

• the President and Secretary have opposite expertise;
• the President and President-elect have opposite expertise; and
• the Secretary and Secretary-elect have opposite expertise.

For clarity, although clinic-internal and clinic-external language are not “opposite”, the term here is used to capture the intent of ensuring that at all times the set of SIG officers will reflect the SIG’s goal of maintaining a focus on the full range of clinically related language, both within and outside clinical settings; similarly, “expertise” is construed broadly to include both individuals who identify as specialists in a clinically relevant domain, with computational linguistics as part of their expertise, as well as computational linguistics specialists who work in clinically relevant domains.

All members of the SIG shall be notified when the election begins. Voting for the election shall remain open for one (1) month. Nominees receiving a majority of the votes will be declared elected. All members of the SIG shall be notified of the election results within 1 month of the close of voting.

Appointed Organizers and Officers

Whenever the SIG begins to plan a meeting or workshop (“the meeting”) the SIG officers and Advisory Board shall nominate meeting organizers. Any SIG officer or any Advisory Board member may nominate one (1) or more organizers. For recurring meetings, the SIG officers should nominate at least one (1) candidate from the organizers of the previous iteration of the meeting.

Each candidate shall be voted on by the SIG officers. The candidate with the greatest number of votes shall be appointed as both the meeting organizer and as an appointed officer of the SIG. The remaining candidates shall be sorted by their number of votes, and appointed as organizers (but not SIG officers) until an appropriate number of organizers for the meeting is reached. In the case of a tie in the number of votes, the President shall decide on the appointment.

The duties of any appointed officer shall be:

• To attend the regular meetings of officers of the SIG as organized by the President.
• To update the SIG officers on the planning, finances, execution, and outcomes of the meeting.
• To vote upon organizers for meetings or workshops organized by the SIG.

The term of an appointed officer begins on the day of their appointment, and ends one (1) month after the close of the meeting they organized.

Advisory Board

The advisory board shall consist of five (5) members appointed by the SIG officers, selected such that:

• both technical and domain expertise is represented on the Board; and
• both clinic internal language and clinic external language expertise is represented on the Board.

The term of all Advisory Board members shall be 5 years, starting on January 1st of the year following their appointment. Terms shall be staggered such that one (1) Advisory Board position becomes available each year.

The duties of Advisory Board members shall be:

• To provide guidance to the SIG officers regarding the goals and operation of the SIG
• To raise awareness of the SIG and its activities across related communities.
• To recommend organizers for meetings and workshops organized by the SIG.

Any SIG officer may nominate one (1) or more advisory board candidates. Each candidate shall be voted on by the SIG officers. The candidate with the greatest number of votes shall be appointed as an Advisory Board member. In the case of a tie in the number of votes, the President shall decide on the appointment.

Ethical, Legal, and Negative Impacts Policy

All SIG officers and activities are expected to follow the ACL Code of Ethics and the ACL Policy on Publication Ethics. The SIG is dedicated to promoting research that respectfully handles ethical issues, legal issues, and negative impacts of technologies, including but not limited to:

• Ethical and legal handling of personal health information, whether or not it falls under formal legal protections
• Characterization of potential impacts of deploying technologies in clinical and non-clinical use

Any SIG member may raise ethical issues, legal issues, and negative impacts of technologies that should be considered by the SIG officers by communicating them to the Secretary. Upon notification of such an issue, the SIG President will include the issue as an item for discussion at the next regular meeting of the officers of the SIG, and notify the SIG members of any guidelines or policies that result.

Changes To The Constitution

​Amendments to the constitution of the SIG may be proposed by any group of three or more SIG members. Proposed amendments must be compatible with the ACL Constitution and ACL SIG guidelines. Proposed amendments shall be communicated to the Secretary, who will announce them to the SIG membership. Discussion of the proposed amendments shall be open for one (1) month. A vote on proposed amendments shall be included in the next SIG election. A proposed amendment that is ratified by a two thirds (2/3) majority of the votes shall take immediate effect.