Objectives
1. To provide for the interchange of information about research related to surgery and surgical disease.
2. To foster interchange between surgical science and clinical practice.
3. To promote humanity and high ethical standards in clinical and experimental research.
4. To comment on the standard, place and educational value of surgical research in the training of surgeons.
5. To maintain high standards of scientific evaluation of surgical research by ensuring that the format, quality of slides and illustrations, clarity of presentation and ability to respond to questioning of presentations to the Society are of the highest quality.
6. To promote surgical research by providing travelling scholarships and/or research grants.
7. To promote the interchange of information internationally through collaboration with other national surgical societies.
8. To maintain low subscriptions and registration fees to encourage young research workers in surgery to participate in the activity of the Society.
Membership
9. The Society shall be composed of Ordinary Members, Honorary Members and Corresponding members.
10. Members shall in general be practicing surgeons, but others occupied in surgical research are eligible for election.
11. As far as possible Members shall be representative of the medical schools and surgical research centers of the country.
12. Corresponding membership shall be reserved for surgeons or research workers who are unable, because of distance or circumstances, to fulfil the conditions of Ordinary membership. They shall receive all minutes and agenda. They may attend Scientific Meetings and introduce visitors, but shall not take part in the running of the Society or hold office.
13. On retirement Ordinary Members shall automatically be elected as Honorary Members. Exceptionally, surgeons of distinction who have not previously been Members of the Society may be elected to Honorary Membership. Honorary Members shall receive all minutes and agenda. They may attend Scientific Meetings and introduce visitors, but shall not take part in the running of the Society nor hold office.
Officers
14. The Officers of the Society will be the President, Secretary, Treasurer and a number of other members who shall together constitute the Committee. With the exception of the President the members of the Committee shall be elected by a postal ballot of the ordinary membership.
15. The Editorial Secretary of the BJS shall be invited to be a Member of the Committee.
16. The Committee will consider candidates for the President-Elect and submit their nominations to the Annual General Meeting of the Society for approval. The President shall hold office for a period of two years and shall not be eligible for re-election. He/she shall preside at all meetings of the Society and the Committee.
17. The Secretary and Treasurer shall be elected for up to three years, and shall not normally be eligible for re-election after this period.
18. The other Members of the Committee shall be elected annually for up to three years. A Member of the Committee who has completed a full three years’ tenure of office shall not normally be eligible for re-election until after an interval of three years.
19. The Committee of the Society shall act as the Executive Committee, arranging the meetings and conducting the affairs of the Society, subject to the views of the Society. Proposals for election or re-election for membership shall first be considered by the Committee.
20. The President shall be elected 2 years in advance of taking office and the Secretary 1 year in advance of taking office. Both the President Elect and the Secretary Elect shall attend Committee Meetings.
Meetings
21. The Society shall meet once a year and at such other times as shall be decided. The Scientific business shall be principally short papers followed by discussion.
22. A Business Meeting of Members shall be held at some time during each meeting of the Society to consider arrangements for the following meeting and matters of business raised by the Committee or by members.
23. The Business Meeting at the principle annual meeting of the Society shall be the Annual General meeting at which the election of Officers and Committee shall take place and the Annual Report of the Treasurer shall be received.
24. The Committee shall have the power on behalf of the Society to enter into guarantees and indemnities, limited or unlimited. Such guarantees and indemnities may be signed on behalf of the Committee by officials nominated in the appropriate resolution.
25. Communications to the Society should not normally exceed 10 minutes. Time shall be allowed for discussion.
26. Papers delivered to the Society must not be read from a complete manuscript. Notes only are permitted at the dais but speakers are reminded that the best and most spontaneously given papers are usually those that have been rehearsed to the point that no written assistance is needed.
27. Titles of demonstrations or communications must be accompanied by an abstract or not more than 200 words. The abstract must be submitted on the prescribed form in accordance with the regulations currently determined by the Society. Abstracts must be sent to the Honorary Secretary by the notified date before the meeting at which they are to be presented.
28. Communications for presentation at meetings shall be selected by the Committee.
29. The annual subscription for Members, Senior Members and Corresponding members will be affixed at the Annual General meeting. Members elected after the 1st July 1990 will normally be required to pay their subscription by Direct Debit Mandate. Honorary members will not pay any subscription.
30. Any member who does not pay his subscription within one year, in spite of due notice, shall cease to be a Member.
31. The Treasurer shall present a detailed financial statement at each Annual General Meeting.
Election of Members
32. Candidates for election to all forms of membership must be proposed in writing by one Members of the Society at least one month before the meeting at which the Society intends to make an election. The proposer must indicate that the candidate wishes to become a Member. Those who are already Members of the Society may be elected to Honorary Membership or Corresponding Membership without further proposition. A two-thirds majority of Members present shall be necessary for the election of all Members.
Amendments of Rules of the Society
33. No change in the constitution or Rules of the Society shall be made except, after due notice, by a two-thirds majority of the Members present at the Annual General Meeting.
The David Patey Prize
34. In 1962 the Society instituted this Prize in honour of its founder, Mr David Patey. The conditions are as follows:
- The Patey Prize will be awarded to the person who in the opinion of the Committee has given the best paper to the Society at the meeting.
- The Committee will meet immediately after the general meeting and select the prize winner.
- Normally, candidates should be a trainee when the paper was given.
- The Prize will take the form of a certificate and a sum of money.
Copyright of Abstracts
35. The Society of Academic and Research Surgery regards the copyright of abstracts that are under consideration for presentation at the forthcoming meeting of the Society as vested with the Society (unless the author or authors specifically indicate otherwise) until either: a. the abstracts has been rejected as a consequence of acceptance the copyright is transferred to the British Journal of Surgery. Authors are advised that copyright should be vested in Journals such as the British Journal of Surgery for first publication only and that they should reserve the right to negotiate terms for subsequent use in whatever forms.