Users of OSET and welcome and invited to contribute to this codebase. Adherence to the following Code of Conduct ensures that OSET remains a valuable and reliable resource for the biomedical engineering and biomedical informatics communities.
Commitment to open science: All contributors and users of OSET are expected to uphold the principles of open science, ensuring that their work is accessible, reproducible, and transparent.
Coding guidelines: Source codes for biomedical signal processing applications, require adherence to coding styles beyond the common practices recommended in the software engineering community. Some good coding practices that OSET source codes are expected to adhere to are available here.
Inclusivity and collaboration: OSET promotes an inclusive environment where contributors from diverse backgrounds are welcomed. Collaborative efforts are encouraged to maintain a community-driven approach to development.
Quality and integrity in development: Developers must adhere to high standards of quality. This includes thorough testing, accurate documentation, and maintaining the integrity of the codebase. All contributions should aim to enhance the functionality and usability of OSET.
Respect for intellectual property: OSET is provided with a permissive open license. While encouraging open-source contributions, OSET respects intellectual property rights of contributors. Contributors must ensure that their submissions do not infringe upon the rights of others and should appropriately credit any external resources or inspirations.
Data privacy and ethics: Any handling of data within OSET should comply with ethical standards and respect user privacy. This is particularly important when dealing with sensitive or personal health data. Any sample data shared on OSET must be fully deidentified.
OSET is not a data hosting reporsitory: Short sample records are merely hosted to serve as proof of concept and facilitate testing and debugging the codebase.
Constructive communication: All interactions within the OSET community and its Q&A forums, should be conducted respectfully and constructively. Harassment, discrimination, and offensive behavior are not tolerated.
Adherence to scientific rigor: Contributions should be scientifically sound. This includes using validated methods, adhering to established biomedical data processing standards, and staying updated with current research. Citation of scholary research that support the algorithm implementations hosted on OSET are mandatory.
Responsibility in reporting: Users and contributors should responsibly report any issues, errors, or vulnerabilities in OSET to the project maintainers promptly, aiding in continuous improvement.
Sustainability: Contributions should consider the long-term sustainability of OSET, including backward compatibility, future scalability, and potential integration with emerging technologies.
Educational contribution: OSET is set to serve as a training resource. Contributors are encouraged to provide educational resources, examples, tutorials, and other learning materials to support the training and development of users, particularly those new to biomedical signal processing.
In the OSET team, we recognize and embrace the critical importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as core values integral to this open-source project. As a community, our commitment to these values is reflected in various aspects of the project, from the development of open-source biomedical tools to the communities we engage and serve.
Democratization of biomedical data processing technologies: By offering open-source biomedical source codes, OSET is committed to democratizing access to advanced biomedical tools. We believe that providing open and free access to these resources is a step towards minimizing disparities in healthcare technology. This democratization ensures that researchers and clinicians from diverse backgrounds, regardless of their institution’s financial capabilities, have equal access to high-quality tools, thereby contributing to more accurate healthcare outcomes globally. This achievement also ensures reproducibility of technologies that are built into most medical monitoring technologies, ranging from clinical monitors to portable and wearable technologies.
Inclusive development environment: We strive to create an inclusive environment where contributions from individuals of all backgrounds are valued and respected. We actively seek participation from diverse groups, including underrepresented minorities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). This inclusive approach not only enriches our project but also helps in addressing a broad spectrum of healthcare challenges globally. To note, most medical technologies have been developed, standardized and optimized in affluent regions of the global North. Open-source software will enable federated optimizations of biomedical software based on patient demographics worldwide.
Outreach and engagement: OSET actively engages in outreach efforts to increase awareness and participation among diverse communities. We participate in and sponsor workshops, conferences, and seminars that promote diversity in the field of biomedical engineering and informatics. This effort is exemplified in our team’s long-lasting contributions in the PhysioNet project, and organization of its annual Challenges, demonstrating our global perspective to open-access biomedical research and development.
Training and education: Recognizing the power of education in promoting equity, OSET will include educational materials supporting training programs accessible to all. We aim to equip the next generation of biomedical engineers and researchers with the tools and knowledge they need, regardless of their background or location.
Feedback and continuous improvement: We will maintain an open Q&A forum (to be announced) and issue reporting mechanisms with our user community, to gather feedback on how we can better serve diverse needs in biomedical data analysis. This feedback is crucial for our continuous improvement in making OSET a tool that is not only technically advanced but also socially conscious and inclusive.
In the long-run, OSET is committed to deepening its DEI efforts by establishing partnerships with organizations that focus on increasing diversity in STEM fields, provide internships and mentorships to students from underrepresented communities, and continuously assess and refine our strategies to ensure they align with our DEI objectives.
In summary, the OSET project is not just about developing cutting-edge open-source biomedical tools; it is also about establishing an ecosystem where diversity, equity, and inclusion are integral parts of our research and development practice. We believe that through these efforts, we can make a meaningful impact in the field of biomedical research and healthcare, making it more equitable, inclusive, and effective for all.