is an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department
Date created: Wednesday, January 25, 2012
privacy policy / security notice / accessibility statement
disclaimer / FOIA
*Agreement Concerning Dissemination of TREC/TRECVID Results*
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The annual Text REtrieval Conference (TREC) is an event in which
organizations with an interest in information retrieval and related
technologies take part in a coordinated series of experiments using the
same experimental data and queries. The results of these individual
experiments are then presented at a workshop where tentative comparisons
may be made. In order to preserve the desired, pre-competitive nature of
these conferences, the organizers have developed a set of guidelines
constraining the dissemination and publication of TREC evaluation
results. These guidelines are meant to preclude the publication of
incomplete or inaccurate information that could damage the reputation of
the conference or its participants and could discourage participation in
future conferences. The guidelines apply to all TREC participants and to
organizations requesting access to the archive of TREC results.
A signed agreement is required of each organization participating in the
TREC evaluations or accessing the results archive. Any organization that
is found to have violated the terms or spirit of the agreement may be
denied participation in future TRECs.
*GUIDELINES: *
1. *SCIENTIFIC OR TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS: * Scientific or technical
publications, including newsletters from universities or research
laboratories, should adhere to community standards for fairness and
objectivity and should accurately and clearly state the limitations
of the testing conditions and other factors which might influence
scores. The experimental nature of the tasks, data and evaluation
procedures should also be stated. The full conference proceedings
should always be referenced.
2. *ADVERTISEMENTS: *No advertisements using the TREC evaluation
results can be placed in magazines, journals, newspapers, or other
publications.
3. *PRESS RELEASES: * Press releases about TREC results to
organizations with national/international coverage are also prohibited.
4. *MARKETING LITERATURE, LOCAL NEWSLETTERS: *Although it is recognized
that extensive evaluation discussions are not appropriate in this
type of literature, it is expected that any claims made on the basis
of evaluation results are accurate, that the evaluation measures
used to substantiate these claims are stated, and that a reference
is made to the full conference proceedings. Where promotional
material is subject to prepublication revision by the media, the
author should make every effort to see that the revision does not
cause a violation of the guidelines.
5. Web Sites: Web sites are a type of marketing literature with a
global distribution. The guidelines for marketing literature in
general apply to web sites as well. References to TREC should link
to the TREC web site.
6. Cross-system comparisons may not be made with other named teams for
individual tests, and may only be made when they are supported by
accepted methods of statistical significance testing. Comparisons
must be accompanied by the results of those tests and should
reference the publication of those tests in the conference
proceedings or related literature. Informal, qualitative comparisons
with recognized baselines or benchmarks, and with general levels or
trends in performance, must be clearly stated to be such and thus
open to statistical reassessment.
7. A copy of any publication that quotes or contains references to the
TREC evaluation results must be provided to the TREC program chair.
*ENDORSEMENT (Please type): *
I, _________________________________________________ (name), acting on
behalf of ____________________________________________ (organization),
acknowledge my understanding of the above guidelines and accept this
agreement. As a condition of our participation in the TREC evaluation,
and/or gaining access to the archive of TREC results, my organization
and its employees and representatives agree to abide by these
guidelines. I am qualified to make this commitment.
Signature _________________________________Date: _______________
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Date created: Tuesday, 01-Aug-00
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