The ISCB: Growing and Evolving in Step with Science

Abstract

I n 1993, the Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology conference was successfully launched as an annual meeting for scientific exchange within the nascent interdisciplinary science of computational biology. Demand grew stronger each year for an umbrella organization that extended its reach beyond a once-a-year conference. The International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) was formed in 1997 to provide computational biologists and bioinformaticians worldwide with a community of peers with whom they could interact year-round in their mutual quest to advance the understanding of living systems through computation. Over the past 13 years, the ISCB has grown and evolved along with the fields of computational biology and bioinformatics. As the society’s president, I am proud to report that our membership now comprises nearly 2,000 members in over 50 countries. Each year, PLoS Computational Biology, as the official journal of the ISCB, will publish the bylaws of the society. These are the legally registered rules by which the elected and appointed leaders of the society, along with the membership at large, must abide. It is my hope that ISCB members will take the time to read these rules, and to understand, thereby, the legal framework in which ISCB operates. Clearly, as ISCB grows, these rules will be adapted to changing circumstances—knowing the current rules is a first step to making any improvements to them. We also believe that our bylaws may be useful to other groups trying to form similar organizations. International Society for Computational Biology Bylaws