Collaborations

ECCO’s involvement in external projects (i.e. projects involving one or several external societies) can take the following forms:

• A joint initiative
• A collaboration
• An endorsement

External projects include events, publications, surveys. ECCO cannot be involved in any study project.

Definition of joint initiative:

“Joint initiatives mean that both Societies are involved from the beginning in creating the scientific programme, selecting the speakers and sharing the financial outcome of such an initiative. An organising secretariat is appointed that takes care of all organisational and bookkeeping matters.”

To request a joint initiative with ECCO, a proposal should be sent to ECCO (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) at a minimum of 6 months prior to the beginning of the project.

As “thorough involvement from the beginning to the end” meets the understanding of authorship, ECCO only engages in manuscript projects with partner societies in the format of joint initiatives. Such initiatives are agreed by means of a Memorandum of Understanding. Due to the complexity of agreeing on joint publications, this type of initiative is primarily reserved for Guidelines.

Definition of collaboration:

“In collaboration with means that one Society officially supports an initiative of the other Society, with potential suggestions to the programme and/or speakers but no financial involvement. The final decision is up to the host Society. The event title will be that of the host organisation, and the words “in collaboration with” will be used to indicate the participation of the other Society and its collaborative review of the programme.”

To request ECCO collaboration, a proposal should be sent to ECCO (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) along with a draft programme at a minimum of 6 months prior to the beginning of the project.

For reasons of GDPR and tax compliance, ECCO primarily engages in events of partners societies in the form of a collaboration. Unlike “joint initiatives” a collaboration refers to content contribution but not the sharing of the project responsibilities, including logistics and finances. 

Definition of endorsement (only for live events):

ECCO wants to help those interested in IBD education through endorsement based on ECCO’s endorsement guidelines which include: target audience country split, IBD content, multi-sponsorship and international faculty.

ECCO is not involved in the development of events for which endorsement is requested, nor in the selection of the chairs/speakers. On a case by case basis, ECCO authorizes the organizers of international events who request it to use ECCO’s name (“this event is endorsed by ECCO”) and logo to foster the quality of events in the field of IBD.

Criteria for an event to be endorsed by ECCO:

• IBD content
• Target audience country split (international audience)
• Multi-sponsorship
• International Faculty
• Use of English as one of the event languages
• Event should be well organized and not biased through industry background (e.g. events set-up by for-profit organisations)
• Minimum number of participants 

ECCO would like to foster quality congresses/symposia/meetings in the field of IBD by putting such events under the "ECCO - Endorsement" and publicising them on this website.

If you would like ECCO to endorse your event, please fill in the ECCO Quality Assurance Form and send to the ECCO Office at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. including a draft programme of your event at a minimum 6 months prior to the beginning of your event.

Following the approval of the ECCO Governing Board, you will receive the authorisation to print the logo of the association (which you will receive from the ECCO Office) on your programme.

Please be aware that the auspices of ECCO do not entitle you to solicit industry sponsorship in the name of ECCO. You may use the ECCO logo only for printing purposes and to formally declare "this event is endorsed by ECCO".