Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) C. S. Perkins
Request for Comments: 9775 University of Glasgow
Category: Informational March 2025
ISSN: 2070-1721
IRTF Code of Conduct
Abstract
This document describes the code of conduct for participants in the
Internet Research Task Force (IRTF).
The IRTF believes that research is most effective when done in an
open and inclusive forum that encourages diversity of ideas and
participation. Through this code of conduct, the IRTF continues to
strive to create and maintain an environment that encourages broad
participation, and one in which people are treated with dignity,
decency, and respect.
This document is a product of the Internet Research Steering Group
(IRSG).
Status of This Memo
This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
published for informational purposes.
This document is a product of the Internet Research Task Force
(IRTF). The IRTF publishes the results of Internet-related research
and development activities. These results might not be suitable for
deployment. Documents approved for publication by the IRSG are not
candidates for any level of Internet Standard; see Section 2 of RFC
7841.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9775.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2025 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
to this document.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Rationale
3. Conduct
4. Research Integrity
5. Research Ethics
6. Inclusive Language and Imagery
7. Participation and Accessibility
8. Security Considerations
9. IANA Considerations
10. References
10.1. Normative References
10.2. Informative References
Acknowledgments
Author's Address
1. Introduction
The Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) promotes research of
importance to the evolution and deployment of the Internet protocols,
applications, architecture and technology, and to understand the
development of the Internet in all its diversity and for all its
users, considering the technical, economic, and societal challenges
of such development. The IRTF focuses on longer-term research issues
related to the Internet while the parallel organisation, the Internet
Engineering Task Force (IETF), focuses on the shorter-term issues of
engineering and standards-making.
The IRTF believes that research is most effective when done in an
open and inclusive forum that encourages diversity of ideas and
participation. Through this code of conduct, the IRTF will continue
to strive to create and maintain an environment that encourages broad
participation, and one in which people are treated with dignity,
decency, and respect.
This document was developed by the Internet Research Steering Group
(IRSG) with broad consultation and review from the IRTF community.
It represents the consensus of the Internet Research Steering Group
(IRSG). It is not an IETF product and is not a standard.
2. Rationale
The IRTF is not the IETF. While the two organisations work closely
together, and often co-locate meetings and other activities, they
have different goals and work in different ways.
The IETF is a consensus-driven standards-developing organisation,
where participants use their best engineering judgment to find the
best solution for the whole Internet as it stands today, and to
develop the best technical standards to make the Internet work
better. IRTF research can be more speculative, and takes a longer-
term view of the development of the Internet without the requirements
for consensus or near-term applicability and deployability that come
from standards development. A further discussion of the differences
between IRTF and IETF can be found in [RFC7418].
Compared to the IETF equivalent [RFC7154], this IRTF code of conduct
reflects those differences in emphasis between the two organisations.
3. Conduct
The IRTF is committed to providing a safe and equitable experience
for all participants. Those participating in the IRTF must extend
respect and courtesy to others at all times.
Harassment is behaviour that is unwelcome, hostile, or intimidating.
Harassment includes, in particular, speech or behaviour that is
sexually aggressive or that intimidates based on attributes such as
education, race, gender, religion, age, colour, national origin,
ancestry, disability, medical condition, sexual orientation, or
gender identity [RFC7776].
Examples of harassment include, but are not limited to, the use of
offensive language or sexual imagery, degrading verbal comments,
deliberate intimidation, stalking, harassing photography or
recording, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual
attention.
Harassment will not be tolerated in IRTF research group meetings,
open meetings, conferences, workshops, other events, mailing lists,
virtual meetings, or other online forums. Participants must follow
the IETF anti-harassment policy, which also applies to the IRTF
[ANTI-HARASSMENT].
Participants who believe they have been harassed, notice that someone
else is being harassed, or have any other concerns relating to
potential harassment or conduct, are encouraged to raise their
concern with the relevant research group chair or the IRTF Chair, or
with the Ombudsteam [OMBUDSTEAM] who work on an independent and
confidential basis. All such concerns will be seriously considered
and action will be taken as appropriate, up to and including the
exclusion of the offending party from IRTF activities.
The IRTF sometimes organises meetings or activities that co-locate
with events organised by others. These meetings or activities may
need to follow the anti-harassment policy of the hosting event, which
may differ from that of the IRTF. In such cases, the organisers of
the IRTF meeting or activity should check with the IRTF Chair to
confirm that the policy is acceptable and it should be made clear to
participants what policy applies.
The IRTF operates and makes use of a number of mailing lists and
other online discussion forums. At the time of this writing,
research group chairs act as moderators for such forums used by their
research groups, and the IRTF Chair moderates IRTF-wide lists and
discussion forums. Other moderators may be appointed in the future.
Harassment or disruption on these lists and discussion forums due to
posting messages that are inflammatory, abusive, or otherwise
inappropriate, or due to the repeated posting of off-topic material,
will not be tolerated. Moderators will respond to harassing or
disruptive behaviour with either a warning, by temporarily suspending
posting rights, or after approval from the IRTF Chair by permanently
suspending posting rights for an individual, based on the seriousness
and history of the behaviour.
Participants who have concerns about, or wish to appeal against, a
moderation decision should raise their concerns with the IRTF Chair.
If the concern relates to moderation decisions taken by the IRTF
Chair, then it should be raised with the Internet Architecture Board.
These parties will review the situation and may reverse the
moderation decision or take other action as appropriate.
4. Research Integrity
Participants must act with respect, honesty, transparency, and
fairness. They should be trustworthy, aspire to objectivity, and aim
to provide factual evidence in support of their claims and
justification for their reasoning. They should be generous, give
credit to others where it is due, and recognise that understanding
advances through collaborative research efforts of many, rather than
for the glory of a few.
Plagiarism, misrepresentation of authorship, and content
falsification constitute dishonesty and fraud. Such actions are
prohibited and the IRTF may take action against authors who commit
them, including retraction of the published work or exclusion of the
offending party from IRTF activities.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools and systems must not be
listed as authors of IRTF documents, presentations, or other
materials. The use of generative AI to create text or other content
is permitted but must be disclosed if significant amounts of such
content are included, for example through an acknowledgement
describing which AI system was used and how it contributed. The use
of AI to perform spelling or grammar checks and corrections, to
translate between languages, or to otherwise improve the presentation
of content need not be disclosed.
The IRTF publishes informational and experimental documents in the
RFC series. The nature of these documents, and their preceding
Internet-Drafts, is that they often extend or elaborate upon
previously published research results, to support ongoing development
and experimentation by the IRTF community. These documents are
encouraged as an important part of the process of disseminating
research ideas and ensuring that they work in the Internet at large.
Authors must ensure that prior work, including their own prior work,
is appropriately cited and acknowledged, and that new documents
respect the copyright of prior work and are written with the
permission of any coauthors.
IRTF documents may represent the views of their authors or they may
be consensus documents representing the views of a research group.
It is a misrepresentation for authors to falsely claim that a
document represents the consensus view of a research group.
Similarly, the editors of a research group consensus document must
not misrepresent their role as that of authors.
5. Research Ethics
Participants must ensure that their research, in particular research
that involves human subjects or personal data, is conducted ethically
and with respect for persons, in careful consideration of the risks
and benefits of the work, taking care to ensure that those who bear
the risk also gain some benefit, and with respect for the law and
public interest.
Participants should consult with their organisation's Institutional
Review Board, Research Ethics Committee, or similar, prior to
conducting research that might raise ethical concerns.
Participants are referred to the guidance in the Menlo Report
[MENLO], the Belmont Report [BELMONT], and the ACM Policy on Research
Involving Human Participants and Subjects [ACM] for further
discussion of issues around ethical conduct of research.
6. Inclusive Language and Imagery
Participants should ensure that language and imagery used in IRTF
documents, presentations, mailing lists, research group meetings,
open meetings, conferences, workshops, and other events, are
respectful and inclusive. Effective research uses terminology that
is clear, precise, and widely accessible to readers from varying
backgrounds and cultures. Participants are encouraged to follow the
guidance on inclusive language in [NISTIR8366] when making
contributions to the IRTF [INCLUSIVE].
Participants should avoid the use of slang and unnecessary jargon in
both spoken and written communication. When communication
difficulties arise, IRTF participants should make a sincere effort to
understand each other and to engage in conversation to clarify when
necessary.
7. Participation and Accessibility
To encourage broad participation and support the goal of providing an
open and inclusive forum that promotes diversity of ideas and
participation, IRTF participants should consider accessibility and
access-related concerns when organising research group meetings, open
meetings, conferences, workshops, and other events to ensure such
events are broadly accessible to all who wish to participate.
English is the de facto language in which the IRTF works, but it is
not the native language of many IRTF participants. All participants,
particularly those with English as a first language, should attempt
to accommodate the needs of others by communicating clearly.
Reading, writing, and conversing in a language where one is not a
native speaker may be difficult, and IRTF participants should treat
those doing so with grace and understanding.
Participants should aim to speak slowly and clearly in presentations
and discussions, and they should strive to make presentations and
other materials accessible to those with impaired vision or
disabilities.
Participants should work to enable remote participation in IRTF
events to support those who cannot attend in person, and they should
aim to make materials available online in a timely and broadly
accessible manner.
The IRTF will work to provide travel grants, fee waivers, childcare,
and other support to help participation by students, early career
researchers, members of under-represented groups, those with
disabilities, and others who might otherwise be unable to
participate. Participants are encouraged to make use of these
opportunities.
IRTF research groups may have open or limited membership [RFC2014].
Limited membership may be advantageous to the formation of the long-
term working relationships that are critical to successful
collaborative research. However, limited membership must be used
with care and sensitivity to avoid unnecessary fragmentation of the
work of the research community. The charter of each research group
defines its membership policy (whether open or limited) and the
procedure to apply for membership in the group. While limited
membership is permitted, it is in no way encouraged or required.
Research group chairs must enforce the membership policy of their
group in a fair and transparent manner, providing a clear rationale
for their decisions. Participants with concerns about the
administration of the membership policy for a research group, or who
wish to appeal a membership decision, should raise their concern with
the IRTF Chair.
In exceptional cases, advice from legal counsel may be to restrict an
individual from using IRTF IT systems and/or from participating in
IRTF research group meetings, open meetings, conferences, workshops,
and other events. In such cases, the IRTF Chair will act following
the principles outlined in the Statement on Restricting Access
[RESTRICTING]. Due to the potential impact on the standards process,
arising from the use of shared infrastructure and joint meetings
between the IRTF and IETF, any such action by the IRTF Chair will
only be taken in consultation with the IESG.
8. Security Considerations
This IRTF code of conduct does not directly affect the security of
the Internet.
Research results, when translated into practice, have the potential
to significantly impact the security and privacy of users of the
Internet. Researchers should consider the potential security
benefits, risks, and implications of their work and, where possible,
should aim to improve security and protect the privacy of Internet
users through their research [RFC8890].
9. IANA Considerations
This document has no IANA actions.
10. References
10.1. Normative References
[ANTI-HARASSMENT]
IETF, "IETF Anti-Harassment Policy", November 2013,
<https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/statement-iesg-ietf-
anti-harassment-policy-20131103/>.
[INCLUSIVE]
"Inclusive Language in Contributions to the IRTF", May
2021, <https://irtf.org/policies/inclusive-language.html>.
[NISTIR8366]
National Institute of Standards and Technology, "Guidance
for NIST Staff on Using Inclusive Language in Documentary
Standards", Interagency or Internal Report 8366 (NISTIR
8366), DOI 10.6028/NIST.IR.8366, April 2021, <https://web.
archive.org/web/20250203031433/https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/
nistpubs/ir/2021/NIST.IR.8366.pdf>.
[OMBUDSTEAM]
IETF, "Ombudsteam",
<https://www.ietf.org/contact/ombudsteam/>.
[RESTRICTING]
"Statement on Restricting Access to IETF IT Systems",
October 2022, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/statement-
iesg-statement-on-restricting-access-to-ietf-it-systems-
20221031/>.
[RFC2014] Weinrib, A. and J. Postel, "IRTF Research Group Guidelines
and Procedures", BCP 8, RFC 2014, DOI 10.17487/RFC2014,
October 1996, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2014>.
[RFC7154] Moonesamy, S., Ed., "IETF Guidelines for Conduct", BCP 54,
RFC 7154, DOI 10.17487/RFC7154, March 2014,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7154>.
[RFC7418] Dawkins, S., Ed., "An IRTF Primer for IETF Participants",
RFC 7418, DOI 10.17487/RFC7418, December 2014,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7418>.
[RFC7776] Resnick, P. and A. Farrel, "IETF Anti-Harassment
Procedures", BCP 25, RFC 7776, DOI 10.17487/RFC7776, March
2016, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7776>.
[RFC8890] Nottingham, M., "The Internet is for End Users", RFC 8890,
DOI 10.17487/RFC8890, August 2020,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8890>.
10.2. Informative References
[ACM] ACM Publications Board, "ACM Publications Policy on
Research Involving Human Participants and Subjects",
August 2021, <https://www.acm.org/publications/policies/
research-involving-human-participants-and-subjects>.
[BELMONT] National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects
of Biomedical and Behavioral Research, "The Belmont Report
- Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of
Human Subjects of Research", <https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/
regulations-and-policy/belmont-report/>.
[MENLO] US Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology
Directorate, "The Menlo Report - Ethical Principles
Guiding Information and Communication Technology
Research", August 2012,
<https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/CSD-
MenloPrinciplesCORE-20120803_1.pdf>.
Acknowledgments
This work is supported in part by the UK Engineering and Physical
Sciences Research Council under grant EP/S036075/1.
This document is based, in part, on the IETF guidelines for conduct
[RFC7154]. The influence of the code of conduct and other policies
of ICANN, the USENIX Association, and the Association for Computing
Machinery is also gratefully acknowledged.
Thanks to Carsten Bormann, Vigdis Bronder, Laurent Ciavaglia, Ignacio
Castro, Jane Coffin, Jay Daley, Dhruv Dhody, Toerless Eckert, Lars
Eggert, Reese Enghardt, Stephen Farrell, Simone Ferlin, Wes Hardaker,
Jana Iyengar, Mallory Knodel, Dirk Kutscher, Mirja Kühlewind, Allison
Mankin, Alexey Melnikov, Marie-Jose Montpetit, Dave Oran, Pete
Resnick, Shivan Kaul Sahib, Eve Schooler, Melinda Shore, Niels ten
Oever, Brian Trammell, Rich Salz, Paul Wouters, Rod Van Meter, and
other members of the Internet Research Steering Group (IRSG) for
their feedback on this code of conduct.
Author's Address
Colin Perkins
University of Glasgow
Email: csp@csperkins.org