Rules for processing Membership Applications for EURAPS

A. MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE: Election and Duration.

The Membership Committee is appointed by the President and approved by the General Assembly to evaluate and score potential candidates for EURAPS and to make such recommendations to the Executive Committee sole responsible to elect New Members. The Membership Committee is composed by three members. They will serve for three years, one member changing each year. Members who are interested in serving the Association on this committee are requested to put forward their names to the Secretary General before the meeting of the Executive Committee.

B. CANDIDATE REQUIREMENTS.
1. Candidates should be full Members of their National Society of Plastic Surgeons (evidence of membership must be submitted);
2. They should be fully qualified as Plastic Surgeons for a period over three years (evidence of the date of the Board must be submitted);
3. They should have personally presented a paper at a EURAPS Meeting, which was considered to be of high standard (evidence of the obtained score will be held by the Secretary General);
4. They should be proposed and seconded by two full members of EURAPS, one of them belonging to the country of the candidate. EURAPS Members are entitled to sponsor only one candidate per year;
5. They should fill in the appropriate application forms and submit 4 copies to the Secretary General of EURAPS by December 31 of the year preceding the Annual Meeting at which the application will be considered (usually the following May);
6. If rejected for 2 consecutive times they must wait 2 years before resubmitting the application.

C. EVALUATION PROCEDURE.
1. The Secretary General will consider applications for eligibility in terms of conformity with the above criteria.
He will transmit forms of the applications, C.V., list of publications along with the list of all the candidates and their confidential profile to each of the Members of the Membership Committee. He will also inform EURAPS voting members by letter two months prior to the next General Assembly about the names of the candidates;
2. Members of the Membership Committee will independently evaluate and score the applicants according to the following criteria:

· C.V. – The Committee should accurately evaluate: training, fellowships, boards, special appointments and awards, memberships of international societies, teaching, appointments, etc.
· Publications – Only publications in a refereed journal in the field of plastic surgery or its subspecialties (hand, microsurgery, craniomaxillofacial surgery, burns, aesthetic surgery, trauma, cleft lip and palate will be taken into account. Topics not related to Plastic Surgery (e.g. General Surgery, etc.) will be excluded from the evaluation. The candidate must have at least 3 publications with his/her name in the first place among 10 pts obtained from the publications indexed in Science Citation Index (SCI) or index medicus (IM)
· Presentation(s) at EURAPS Meeting(s) – Presentation(s) at EURAPS meeting(s) based on the score given by the ad hoc Committee and recorded by the Secretary General should be considered.
· EBOPRAS – 5 points will be given to those individuals who have passed EBOPRAS examination.

The Membership Committee shall meet immediately prior to the meeting of the Executive Committee and on the basis of an agreed scoring procedure list the members in order of precedence. The Membership Committee will draw the attention of the Executive Committee to that list and other factors such as the winning of prizes, number of Members of EURAPS from the country of origin of the candidate.

3. Members of the Executive Committee will elect the new members and the General Assembly will be informed.

D. NUMBER OF CANDIDATES ACCEPTABLE IN EACH CATEGORY EVERY YEAR.
Active Members – At the moment a limit of five vacancies will be available per year, this number may be adjusted by a recommendation of the Secretary General to the Executive Committee and approved by the General Assembly.
Corresponding Members – No limit, provided they fulfill the prerequisites and they are outstanding individuals of great repute who have significantly contributed to the progress of Plastic Surgery. They shall be nominated and elected by the Executive Committee and the General Assembly shall be informed.

E. AMENDMENTS TO THE RULES FOR PROCESSING
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONS.
Amendments to the above rules shall be decided by Members of the Membership Committee and approved by the General Assembly.