In this Policy paper (PP) the guidelines for the collaboration and the activities of the European Researchers in Didactics of Biology are summarized.

1 Aims
1.1 To bring together researchers in Didactics of Biology from all European countries in order to share current research, to develop a greater awareness of the diversity of research traditions within Europe and to provide opportunities for the discussion of issues specific to biology education and biology education research.
1.2 To develop the conference proceedings into a high standard research publication which promotes the best of European research in biology education and of other countries through reviewed selection of the best conference papers.
1.3 To enhance the quality of research in biology education and support the development of new researchers.

2 Form of organization
2.1 The ERIDOB are an informal group of researchers held together by the aims explained under Point 1; up to now they are not an association with membership and / or membership fees.
2.2 An Academic Committee, appointed by the participants of the ERIDOB conferences, is responsible for the conferences of the ERIDOB.

3 The Academic Committee (AC)
3.1 The Academic Committee consists of 8 members: the secretary, the organizer of the next ERIDOB conference and 6 other researchers.
3.2 All members of the AC should come from a different country.
3.3 On each ERIDOB conference a new AC is appointed.
3.4 The maximum time for being member of the AC is 6 years. To guarantee the continuity of the work of ERIDOB it is reasonable that always three members stay in the new committee.

4 Conferences
4.1 ERIDOB conferences take place from 1996 on every two years, alternately to the conferences of the E.S.E.R.A.
4.2 The AC is responsible for the organization of the conferences and for the reviewing and selection of the contributions.
4.3 The ERIDOB conferences are announced in the World Wide Web on the Homepage of the E.S.E.R.A. and of the participants' institutions. All former participants are invited directly by e-mail.
4.4 For the participation a contribution is expected. Students working with people who make a contribution to the conference as well as students from the university where the conference takes place are invited to come.
4.5 Only unpublished papers on research will be accepted no matter whether the work has been completed already or is still in progress. The academic committee must be notified if a paper submitted to the conference has also been submitted or accepted for publication elsewhere.
4.6 The work must be based on a clear research question; the general outcomes of the work must be relevant with regard to the research question. In general the AC accepts two categories of research work: (1.) Theory driven studies that base on clear-cut hypothesis and (2.) development work basing on sound underpinnings in combination with criteria oriented evaluation.
4.7 No participant may submit more than 1 first authored paper.
4.8 No participant may present more than once during the conference
4.9 No participant may appear in the programme more than 3 times.

5 Conference Proceedings
5.1 The local committee of a conference and the secretary in charge are responsible for the edition of the conference proceedings.
5.2 The contributions for the proceedings are reviewed by the members of the AC that organized the respective conference.
5.3 Papers already submitted for publication elsewhere should not be submitted for publication in conference proceedings
5.4 The costs for the conference proceedings are part of the conference fees.
5.5 The local committee is responsible for the distribution of the proceedings of the last conference to its participants.