Articles of the Society
1. The Foundation
1.1. The World Society of Emergency Surgery(WSES) was founded on 28/5/ 2007
1.2. The headquarters are located in Bologna Via Lidice 4
1.3. The name of the society is the World Society of Emergency Surgery.
1.4. For convenience, the society is known as WSES.
2. The Aims of the Society
2.1. The aims of the society are:
· To promote training and continuing medical education in emergency surgery (performed within 24 hr of hospital admission), trauma surgery and in areas relating to the above, by organizing academic meetings and practical courses on a regular basis.
· To propagate clinical and basic research in these core subjects.
· To apply protocols using best medical practice to diagnosis and treat emergency surgical and trauma patients.
· To facilitate exchange of information and to encourage interdisciplinary networking with those specialties that relate to trauma and emergency surgery.
· To facilitate practical courses and programs to assist practitioners.
· To promote meetings (World Congress) on a regular basis. (Meetings may be held
· tri-annually. The objective of these meetings are to enhance the care of the patients requiring emergency surgery via scientific presentations, panel discussions, clinical guidelines, consensus statements, etc
· The WSES would serve as a infrastructure to develop multicenter trials where optimal care remains uncertain
3. Membership
3.1. The society is made up of founder and ordinary members. The society is comprised of members who are surgeons certified by national criteria in their discipline in their respective countries
3.2. Founding members will be the current board of WJES.
3.3. Applications for membership of the society are submitted to the board of directors and the fee is 50 euros (5 euros for developing countries).
3.4.The rights of membership of the Society:
· to vote at the General Assembly,
· to receive the Society’s Publication
· to attend the tri-annual meeting of the Society at a reduced rate to stand for membership of the board
3.5. The WSES has a Corporate Alliance of Companies that support the Society with an appropriate fee for this membership The membership fees will be used to cover the direct costs of the Society (web site, correspondence, ….)
4. General Assembly
4.1. All member of the society shall be members of the general assembly.
4.2. The possible membership fee is agreed by the General Assembly of members, and is discussed at the tri-annual meetings.
4.3. Decisions by the general assembly shall be decided on the majority of votes cast amongst voting members. Only positive and negative votes will be considered when counting. Block voting by groups is forbidden.
4.4. The members of the general assemble are responsible for appointing a general secretary every six years and a vice president every three years. The vice president automatically becomes president for a three year term after the vice-presidency.
4.5. Members with specific expertise, merit and excellence may be coopted on to the board after election by the general assembly. They will not have entitlement to vote but will be encouraged to advise the committee.
5. The Board of Directors
5.1. The board of directors will be the Editorial Board of the World Journal of Emergency Surgery and among them there will be:
· The president (Voting)
· The vice president (who is also the president elect) (Voting)
· The general secretary to the board (Voting)
· The treasurer (Voting)
· The immediate past president (Voting)
5.2. Non voting members (including previous presidents and co-opted members) may be included on the Board.
5.3. The president, the vice president, the general secretary and the treasurer shall be elected by the general assembly of founding and ordinary members.
5.4. Decisions by the board of directors shall be determined by the majority of votes amongst voting members. Only positive and negative votes will be considered when counting. The president will have a casting vote if a decision is hung.
5.5. Members of the board of directors will represent at least the top 5 countries of the membership
5.6. The president, the vice president, the general secretary and the treasurer will be appointed for three years and may be re-elected for a further three-year term of office, with the exception of the general secretary, whose term of office is six years (non-renewable) and the treasurer whose term of office is six years (non- renewable). The general secretary and treasurer may not serve in other board roles.
5.7. The board of directors is responsible for the implementation of the aims of the society.
5.8. The board of directors are responsible for recommending a vicepresident to the general assembly every three years.
5.9. The society is represented by the president or by the vicepresident of the society.
5.10. The board of directors is authorized to cooperate in confederations, unions or networks with other societies, institutes, national and international scientific societies with similar aims and to have societies with other journals involving the core subjects of the society. These should be subsequently ratified by the general assembly.
6. Duties of office holders
The general secretary
6.1. The general secretary will be responsible for secretarial affairs for a six year term of office.
6.2. The general secretary will remain a voting member of the board but will not be eligible for re-election as secretary.
6.3. The general secretary will implement the decisions of the board of directors and is responsible for the day-to-day affairs of the society.
6.4. The general secretary is responsible for the minutes of all official meetings and for maintaining the society’s web site.
The treasurer
6.5. The treasurer will submit an annual report to the board of directors for approval and will be responsible for presenting the audited accounts of the previous year’s activity.
6.6. The treasurer will work closely with the president and the secretary and will establish a system of updating membership.
The president and vice president
6.7. The president will serve a term of office of three years and will then pass on the presidency to the vice-president. A new vice president should then be elected from the general assembly who will also be president-elect.
6.8. The assembly and the board are chaired by the president of the society.
6.9. The president shall convene the general assembly every three years but may hold an extraordinary general meeting upon the request of one third of its current general membership or the majority of the board.
6.10. The president takes overall responsibility for representing the society.
6.11. The president will take up office at the tri-annual meeting.
6.12. The vice-president will represent the president if not present.
7. The society’s journal
7.1. The official journal of the society is the World Journal of Emergency Surgery, published by Biomed Central Ltd London UK. Should there be a majority vote, which is half plus one of those having the right to vote, to change or to augment the official journal with another, then this may be reviewed.
8. Dissolution of the society
8.1. In the case of the dissolution of the society or cessation of it’s activity for whatever reason, all residual assets shall be devolved to other societies, foundations or bodies having similar aims as the society, as chosen by the majority of the board.
8.2. No reimbursements shall be made to any member.
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