Earlier policy library. This page belongs to an earlier library of ASF policies. The current, approved governance set is the ASF Standards Package 2026 (GOV, OPS, QMS and EV documents). Where this page and the 2026 package differ, the 2026 package applies.
ASF Institutional Policy Manual · Aligned with PHIG, September 2026
Part of the ASF policy framework, aligned with the equivalent PHIG policy. To raise a concern: see the ASF Complaints and Reporting Channel.
Knowledge ASF creates with public or donor money is made openly available, while respecting donor terms, participants’ privacy and others’ rights. Owner: Research Integrity Officer (Tamar Talakvadze).
- Ownership: work created by staff in the course of employment belongs to ASF; consultants’ contracts assign rights to ASF unless agreed otherwise; donor agreements prevail where they set other terms.
- Open access: publications, reports, training materials and tools are published under Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) by default, with persistent identifiers (DOIs) for scholarly outputs.
- Data sharing: anonymised research data are shared in a public repository when ethics approval and consent allow, following the FAIR principles (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable).
- Third-party rights: images, text and data from others are used only with permission or under a licence that allows it, and are credited.
- Name and logo: the ASF name and logo are used only for authorised purposes; partners need written permission.
- Use by other assessment bodies: an accreditation, certification, inspection or standards-setting organisation other than ASF may use ASF’s published standards under the CC BY 4.0 licence above, with attribution to ASF and the specific standard code and version used. ASF asks any such organisation to notify info@accreditation.ge and, where practical, to share feedback or assessment findings from that use — this feedback is treated as a revision proposal under the standards development process (see How ASF Standards Are Developed, Section 09). No separate licence or written permission is required beyond the CC BY 4.0 terms; ASF does not restrict which organisations may assess against its standards.