Governance & Policies
How the CLIF Consortium is organized, how decisions are made, and how to participate
01 Steering Committee
The governing body responsible for strategic decisions and consortium operations.
Purpose
The CLIF Steering Committee provides strategic direction, oversees the development and maintenance of the CLIF data format, and ensures the consortium operates transparently and effectively. The committee makes decisions on versioning, new table adoption, project approvals, and membership.
Membership Requirements
Steering Committee membership is open to individuals who meet either of the following criteria:
- A Principal Investigator (PI) actively contributing data to the consortium and securing independent funding for their site
- An active data scientist contributing to consortium projects and infrastructure
Membership Responsibilities
- Attend weekly consortium meetings
- Serve as Point of Contact (POC) for at least one CLIF table
- Vote on project proposals and schema changes
- Review and provide feedback on consortium policies
Leadership Roles
Co-Chairs
Set the strategic vision, lead weekly meetings, and serve as the public-facing representatives of the consortium.
Vice-Chairs
Oversee day-to-day operations, review membership applications, coordinate software development, and manage the data dictionary.
Operating Rules
02 Table Point of Contact (POC) Responsibilities
Each CLIF table is assigned a POC from the Steering Committee who oversees its development and maintenance.
- Reviewing and approving table schema changes
- Addressing and resolving GitHub issues related to their table
- Communicating changes to the Vice-Chairs for software development coordination
- Documenting progress in the internal project tracker
See the full list of table POCs on the Data Dictionary page.
03 Versioning & Update Process
How CLIF versions are numbered, proposed, and released.
Semantic Versioning
CLIF follows semantic versioning (Major.Minor.Patch) to communicate the nature and impact of changes clearly.
| Component | When It Changes | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Breaking changes to existing table schemas (renaming fields, removing tables, changing data types) | 2.x.x → 3.0.0 |
| Minor | New tables added, concept tables promoted to beta, new optional fields | 3.0.x → 3.1.0 |
| Patch | Bug fixes, documentation updates, mCIDE value additions, description clarifications | 3.0.0 → 3.0.1 |
04 Authorship Guidelines
Standards for attribution and credit on CLIF consortium publications.
ICMJE Criteria
Authorship follows the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines. All four conditions must be met:
View All Four ICMJE Conditions
- Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work
- Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content
- Final approval of the version to be published
- Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved
Named Authors vs. Group Authorship
Named Authors
Individuals who meet all four ICMJE criteria are listed as named authors on the publication.
Group Authorship
Contributors who support the work (e.g., running code at their site) but do not meet all ICMJE criteria are credited under the "CLIF Consortium" group authorship.
Key Author Roles
Authorship Timing
The authorship list should be established when sites begin running the analytic code, not at the time of manuscript submission. This ensures that all contributors are recognized from the outset.
Manuscript Review
All named authors must review and approve the final manuscript before submission. The corresponding author is responsible for coordinating the review process and ensuring all authors provide sign-off.
Dispute Resolution
Authorship disputes are mediated by the Steering Committee. Parties are heard confidentially and the committee issues a binding recommendation.
Amendments to the authorship guidelines require a two-thirds majority vote of the Steering Committee.
05 Joining the Consortium
How new sites and investigators can become part of the CLIF Consortium.
Site Requirements
To participate as a data-contributing site, your institution must:
- Maintain independent IRB approval and retain full responsibility for your own IRB processes for each CLIF project run at your site
- Complete the ETL of your local EHR data to create a local CLIF database at your site
- Participate in weekly working group meetings to stay aligned on schema updates, project coordination, and consortium decisions
06 Funding & Grants
How consortium activities are funded and how sites can support each other.
Independent Funding
Each PI is responsible for securing their own funding to support CLIF implementation and participation at their site. The consortium does not provide centralized funding for individual sites.
Letters of Support
The consortium provides letters of support for members pursuing grants related to CLIF activities. Contact the Co-Chairs to request a letter.
Sub-Awards & Data Use Agreements
Sub-awards and DUAs between specific sites are permitted but not required. These are arranged between individual sites as needed for specific funded projects.