There are many opportunities for volunteers to collaborate on CCGA activities. Please join our community effort and share how you would like to become involved (Volunteer Form).
Authors
Authors are the primary content creators of CCGA pages.
Specific aspects of this role:
- Complete the Volunteer Form.
- Review the pages in need of authors (Volunteer Assignments and Opportunities - see “Authors” column and look for any that are not assigned). Of note, as content for all entities with genetic findings in the current WHO Classification of Tumours books will be created, if there is an entity not yet listed that you would like to author, we would be happy to create a page for you now.
- Follow the processes detailed in the Author Instructions.
- If applicable, collaborate with a mentor to provide accurate and thorough information for the assigned page.
- Collaborate with the Associate Editor to develop a timeline and communicate questions and page completion.
- Of note, the CCGA is a wiki-based platform with the intention that contributors can modify any page at any time if something is not accurate or new evidence and references would be beneficial to share. This will allow up-to-date accurate content to be available to the community. Primary authorship will typically be listed as those individuals that initially completed the page content, and inquiries can be made by Email if a subsequent user modifies the content and feels the effort put forth is of high enough significance to warrant listing in the authorship section.
Mentors to Authors
A mentor can be requested by a trainee or any author who feels it would be beneficial to collaborate on producing the detailed page content. Mentors will be given co-authorship credit and are welcome to indicate interest in collaborating with multiple individuals or serving recurrently in this capacity for new authors.
Who can be a mentor? You don't have to be an expert in a specific area to be a mentor! Mentors can be individuals with specific subject matter expertise or those with experience in the general field sufficient to effectively assess the related literature.
Specific aspects of this role:
- Complete the Volunteer Form.
- Review the content produced by the author in careful detail (including the primary cited literature) for accuracy and thoroughness.
- Ensure content is presented in a final form on the CCGA site for the Associate Editor.
Associate Editors
Associate Editors supervise distinct areas of the CCGA effort, and are defined with three types.
Types of Associate Editors:
- Disease-Specific – Oversees author assignment, content creation and accuracy of disease overview and detailed entity pages within a disease-specific area (RECRUITING CURRENTLY)
- Gene-Specific – Oversees author assignment, content creation and accuracy of gene pages (ASSIGNED)
- Technical – Assists other Associate Editors in technical procedures, acts as a liaison with IT support to resolve technical site issues, and develops ideas for streamlining and automating processes for the site (ASSIGNED)
Specific aspects of this role:
- Attend quarterly Associate Editor meetings with the Editor-in-Chief to discuss overarching concerns, changes and ideas.
- Attend monthly CCGA Workgroup meetings.
- Follow the processes detailed in the Associate Editor Instructions.
- Track progress in real time on the Volunteer Assignments and Opportunities Page of assigning author to pages (pending), author completion of pages (complete) and editorial review.
- Guide authors (and mentors if applicable) through the page content creation process. Onboarding resources (such as Author Instructions), pre-loaded templates and IT help are provided.
- Perform editorial review of initial and continued modifications of pages completed by authors.
- Following publication of a new version of the applicable WHO Classification of Tumours book:
- Collaborate with the Technical Associate Editor to move or create new pages as needed.
- Solicit original page authors or help find new authors to update pages in a timely manner.
Guidelines for CCGA Workgroup members (who are not Associate Editors)
CCGA Workgroup members are super-contributors to the CCGA effort. There are many different roles for members, which align interests and expertise with project goals. Members have diverse backgrounds such as bioinformaticians, trainees, clinical laboratory directors and others.
Priorities for CCGA Workgroup members (after 6 months of onboarding)
- Every 3 months, make a significant contribution to content (e.g., author ≥ 1 page, mentor someone to complete ≥ 1 page, generate and upload significant data visualizations or tables).
- Target attendance for workgroup meetings of ≥75% per calendar year. As a courtesy, please notify the Editor-in-Chief when you have an expected absence prior to the meeting.
- Provide feedback in a timely manner, when requested.
- Help recruit new contributors.
- Contribute to yearly goals generated by the Genomic Resources Development Committee (GRDC) and CCGA Workgroup.
- Volunteer for one “driver” role to propel progress on CCGA aims with report to CCGA Workgroup at least one time per quarter. An evolving list of these roles and their associated leader will be maintained by the Editor-in-Chief and are accessible to the GRDC and CCGA Workgroup members to promote communication.
New members would typically focus on content creation and attending CCGA Workgroup meetings for the first 6 months before taking on additional responsibilities.
An annual review of contributions will be conducted by the Editor-in-Chief to confirm continued interest by each member in actively participating. The hope is that everyone will remain engaged by attending meetings and contributing to goals for an extended time. There is no term limit for active contributors.