Pertaining to InPOG as a Body

A: No, it is part of PHO IAP and not a separate registered body.
A: No, InPOG is not a funding agency and the individual chief investigators have to be responsible for obtaining the necessary funding. InPOG merely serves a body to bring the researchers together and conduct research in an organized and disciplined manner, and assist in developing multicentric contribution.

Pertaining to InPOG Membership

A: You can become an associate InPOG member if you are not a regular PHO IAP member. However, you have to be a PHO IAP member if you want to become a regular InPOG member. Notably you have to fill up an https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1buSP_e7GCsVTAVknKZOCeasZq-7VSGaqYkDxsfIEZm0/viewform?c=0&w=1&usp=mail_form_link online form of InPOG membership and you will be assigned the membership number. The difference between the regular and associate InPOG member is that the associate member does not have voting rights, otherwise rest all is same.
Member Type Eligibility Study Group Co-ordinator Study Group Member Voting Rights Authorship
Regular Regular PHO Member Yes Yes Yes Yes
Associate Pediatric Surgeons
Other Surgeons
Radiotherapists
Radiologists
Pathologists
Biostatisticians
Molecular biologists
Yes Yes No Yes
Trainee DM
Fellows
No No No No
A: Following completion of the InPOG online membership form, an email confirming your membership will be sent to you by email. If you do not hear within one week of your submitting your online form, please email inpog15@gmail.com.
A: Initial allocation of members to each of the subcommittee was done by the InPOG secretariat based on an online form which was sent by email to all PHO IAP members and the replies received. Allocation was stratified by the annual number of childhood cancer diagnosed.
Now, any one desirous of joining an InPOG subcommittee should write to the InPOG subcommittee  co-ordinator. The names and emails of all co-ordinators have been circulated in the InPOG Newsletter Jan-Mar 2015.
A: There is no prescribed limit to the number of members of an InPOG subcommittee. However it is important to understand that the InPOG subcommittee is not an interest group, rather a collection of individuals who are given the task of initiating and/or evaluating all research related to their subcommittee. For this reason, the number of members needs to be manageable and relevant. It is better to have a mixture of professionals e.g. pediatric oncologists, radiation oncologists, surgical oncologists, statisticians etc rather than have individuals only from one speciality. Similarly, more than 1-2 members from the same institute in a subcommittee may not be necessary.

Pertaining to Studies under InPOG

A: If you do not hear back from the InPOG subcommittee co-ordinator within a week of writing to them, please send a reminder email. If you still do not get any response within two weeks, please email inpog15@gmail.com.
A: Yes, anyone can come with an idea and if approved by the subcommittee, he/she can be invited to develop that idea and present the protocol within the subcommittee.
A: No, any study from a group has to go through the roadmap that was circulated earlier. Minimum 5 centers have to participate to be eligible to become InPOG study. In addition, the scientific merit as well as the opinion of the subcommittee members and external reviewers would be important for a study to finally get registered as an InPOG study.
A: You do not have to be a member of an InPOG subcommittee to enrol patients for any study. You can contribute patients for a study that you feel is appropriate after obtaining the necessary local ethics approval. There are several good reasons to enrol your patients to an InPOG study
  • You may feel that the study is worth participating for your patient
  • You will advance knowledge and improve science
  • Your participation and/or enrolment could entitle you for authorship in the manuscript that results from that study if you meet the criteria.

Pertaining to Authorship

A: No, being a member or chair/co-ordinator of a subcommittee does not automatically qualifiy one for authorship of any manuscript that comes out of that subcommittee. Authorship can only be obtained through two mechanisms
  • Significant contribution to the design and planning of the study. In general, we expect that there would be maximum three investigators from the study group (including biostatistician if required). Additionally the study chair could have another member of the group in the writing committee or could include this fourth member from outside the group.
  • Enrolment of patients. In order to be an author based on enrolment, you are expected to contribute at least 5% of the total evaluable patients for that study. If you contribute 5-9.9% of the total evaluable patients, then you are entitled for authorship for one person from your center, 2 authors if contribution is 10-14.9%, and 3 authors if it is 15-19.9%, and 4 authors if it is >20%.
  • The order of authorship is first author/corresponding author from the study group followed by authorship as per contribution. 
A: The authorship of the abstract or manuscript needs to be approved by the subcommittee chair and then by the InPOG secretariat before submission, primarily to ensure that the authorship criteria has been appropriately addressed.

In future, we also hope to have a manuscript review committee.