ACM Advertising Policy

ACM is committed to upholding the highest ethical and professional standards consistent with its mission to advance computing as a science and a profession, enable professional development, and promote policies and research that benefit society. ACM Publications accept advertising as a supplementary income stream, not as a primary income stream. As such, ACM is not dependent upon advertising to maintain its publications or broader society operations, but views advertising primarily as a way to educate our readership about products and services available to them as consumers and professionals. ACM is a non-political organization and as such will not refuse or reject advertising based on political considerations, the popularity of the advertiser, or the stated opinions of ACM readership. Advertisements published in ACM publications and websites are recruitment-based and non-recruitment-based.

ACM accepts recruitment advertising under the basic premise that the advertising employer does not discriminate on the basis of age, color, race, religion, gender, sexual preference or national origin. ACM recognizes however, that laws on such matters vary from country to country and contain exceptions, inconsistencies or contradictions. This is as true of laws of the United States of America as it is of other countries. Thus, ACM requires each advertising employer to state explicitly in the advertisement any employment restrictions that may apply with respect to age, color, race, religion, gender, sexual preference, or national origin. Observance of the legal retirement age in the employer’s country is not considered discrimination under this policy.

For non-recruitment-based advertising, ACM will only sell and publish ads that are generally consistent with its scientific and educational mission and that are of professional or educational interest to the wider computing community. ACM reserves the right to refuse or reject advertising that is deemed to be “objectively” offensive or inappropriate. In addition, ACM avoids any interaction between advertising sales staff and editorial staff or volunteer decision makers that could influence content published in ACM Publications, although it is possible that editorial staff will inform advertising sales staff of content that will appear in upcoming issues after editorial decisions have been taken. Any such communication is carefully managed to avoid any potential conflicts of interest that could be viewed as inappropriate editorial influence. As a practical matter, only ACM sales staff is responsible for selling advertising and only ACM Volunteers are responsible for making editorial decisions in ACM Publications, so this division of responsibility ensures that there is no conflict of interest with respect to editorial decision making.