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 athttps://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

The Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) promotes research of importanceto the evolution and deployment of the Internet protocols, applications,architecture and technology, and to understand the development of theInternet in all its diversity and for all its users, considering thetechnical, economic, and societal challenges of such development.The IRTF focuses on longer-term research issues related to the Internetwhile 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 openand inclusive forum that encourages diversity of ideas and participation.Through this code of conduct, the IRTF will continue to strive to createand maintain an environment that encourages broad participation, and onein 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 SteeringGroup (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 closelytogether, and often co-locate meetings and other activities, they havedifferent goals and work in different ways.¶

The IETF is a consensus-driven standards-developing organisation, whereparticipants use their best engineering judgment to find the best solutionfor the whole Internet as it stands today, and to develop the besttechnical standards to make the Internet work better.IRTF research can be more speculative, and takes a longer-term view ofthe development of the Internet without the requirements for consensusor near-term applicability and deployability that come from standardsdevelopment. A further discussion of the differences between IRTF andIETF can be found in[RFC7418].¶

Compared to the IETF equivalent[RFC7154], this IRTF code of conductreflects those differences in emphasis between the two organisations.¶

3.Conduct

The IRTF is committed to providing a safe and equitable experience for allparticipants. Those participating in the IRTF must extend respect andcourtesy to others at all times.¶

Harassment is behaviour that is unwelcome, hostile, or intimidating.Harassment includes, in particular, speech or behaviour that is sexuallyaggressive 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 harassmentinclude, but are not limited to, the use of offensive language or sexualimagery, 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, openmeetings, conferences, workshops, other events, mailing lists, virtual meetings, or other onlineforums. Participants must follow the IETF anti-harassment policy, which alsoapplies to the IRTF[ANTI-HARASSMENT].¶

Participants who believe they have been harassed, notice that someone else is beingharassed, or have any other concerns relating to potential harassment orconduct, are encouraged to raise theirconcern with the relevant research group chair or the IRTF Chair, or with theOmbudsteam[OMBUDSTEAM] who work on an independent and confidential basis.All such concerns will be seriously considered and action will be taken asappropriate, up to and including the exclusion of the offending party from IRTFactivities.¶

The IRTF sometimes organises meetings or activities that co-locate withevents organised by others. These meetings or activities may need to followthe anti-harassment policy of the hosting event, which may differ from thatof the IRTF. In such cases, the organisers of the IRTF meeting or activityshould check with the IRTF Chair to confirm that the policy is acceptableand it should be made clear to participants what policy applies.¶

The IRTF operates and makes use of a number of mailing lists and otheronline discussion forums. At the time of this writing, research groupchairs 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 awarning, by temporarily suspending posting rights, or after approval fromthe 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 decisionshould raise their concerns with the IRTF Chair. Ifthe concern relates to moderation decisions taken by the IRTF Chair, then itshould be raised with the Internet Architecture Board.These parties will review the situation and may reverse themoderation 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 factualevidence in support of their claims and justification for their reasoning.They should be generous, give credit to others where it is due, andrecognise that understanding advances through collaborative researchefforts of many, rather than for the glory of a few.¶

Plagiarism, misrepresentation of authorship, andcontent falsification constitute dishonesty and fraud. Such actions areprohibited and the IRTF may take action against authors who commit them,including retraction of the published work or exclusion of the offendingparty from IRTF activities.¶

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools and systems must not be listed as authors of IRTFdocuments, presentations, or other materials. The use of generative AIto create text or other content is permitted but must be disclosed ifsignificant amounts of such content are included, forexample through an acknowledgement describing which AI system was used andhow it contributed. The use of AI to perform spelling or grammar checksand corrections, to translate between languages, or to otherwise improvethe presentation of content need not be disclosed.¶

The IRTF publishes informational and experimental documents in the RFCseries. The nature of these documents, and their preceding Internet-Drafts,is that they often extend or elaborate upon previously published researchresults, to support ongoing development and experimentation by the IRTFcommunity. These documents areencouraged as an important part of the process of disseminatingresearch 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 documentsrespect the copyright of prior work and are written with thepermission of any coauthors.¶

IRTF documents may represent the views of their authors or they may beconsensus documents representing the views of a research group. It is amisrepresentation for authors to falsely claim that a document representsthe consensus view of a research group. Similarly, the editors of aresearch group consensus document must not misrepresent their role as thatof authors.¶

5.Research Ethics

Participants must ensure that their research, in particular research thatinvolves human subjects or personal data, is conducted ethically and withrespect for persons, in careful consideration of the risks and benefitsof 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 ReviewBoard, Research Ethics Committee, or similar, prior to conducting researchthat might raise ethical concerns.¶

Participants are referred to the guidance in the Menlo Report[MENLO], theBelmont Report[BELMONT], and the ACM Policy on Research Involving HumanParticipants and Subjects[ACM] for further discussion of issues aroundethical conduct of research.¶

6.Inclusive Language and Imagery

Participants should ensure that language and imagery used in IRTFdocuments, 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 widelyaccessible to readers from varying backgrounds and cultures. Participantsare 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 anopen and inclusive forum that promotes diversity of ideas and participation, IRTF participantsshould consider accessibility and access-related concerns when organisingresearch group meetings, open meetings, conferences, workshops, and other events toensure 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 thenative language of many IRTF participants. All participants, particularlythose with English as a first language, should attempt to accommodate theneeds of others by communicating clearly.Reading, writing, and conversing in a language where one is not a nativespeaker may be difficult, and IRTF participants should treat those doingso with grace and understanding.¶

Participants should aim to speak slowly and clearly in presentations anddiscussions, and they should strive to make presentations and other materialsaccessible to those with impaired vision or disabilities.¶

Participants should work to enable remote participation in IRTF events tosupport those who cannot attend in person, and they should aim to make materialsavailable online in a timely and broadly accessible manner.¶

The IRTF will work to provide travel grants, fee waivers, childcare, andother support to help participation by students, early career researchers,members of under-represented groups, those with disabilities, and otherswho might otherwise be unable to participate. Participants are encouragedto 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-termworking relationships that are critical to successful collaborative research.However, limited membership must be used with care and sensitivity to avoidunnecessary fragmentation of the work of the research community.The charter of each research group defines its membership policy (whetheropen 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 ina fair and transparent manner, providing a clear rationale for their decisions.Participants with concerns about the administration of the membership policyfor a research group, or who wish to appeal a membership decision, shouldraise their concern with the IRTF Chair.¶

In exceptional cases, advice from legal counsel may be to restrict anindividual from using IRTF IT systems and/or from participating in IRTFresearch group meetings, open meetings, conferences, workshops, and otherevents. In such cases, the IRTF Chair will act following the principles outlined in theStatement on Restricting Access[RESTRICTING]. Due to the potential impacton the standards process, arising from the use of shared infrastructure andjoint meetings between the IRTF and IETF, any such action by the IRTF Chairwill only be taken in consultation with the IESG.¶

8.Security Considerations

This IRTF code of conduct does not directly affect the security of theInternet.¶

Research results, when translated into practice, have the potential tosignificantly impact the security and privacy of users of the Internet.Researchers should consider the potential security benefits, risks, andimplications of their work and, where possible, should aim to improvesecurity and protect the privacy of Internet users through their research[RFC8890].¶

9.IANA Considerations

This document has no IANA actions.¶

10.References

Acknowledgments

This work is supported in part by the UK Engineering and Physical SciencesResearch 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 USENIXAssociation, and the Association for Computing Machinery is also gratefullyacknowledged.¶

Thanks toCarsten 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