International Continence Society (ICS): Fifty years (1976-2026) publishing standardisation reports

It is now fifty years (1976) since the International Continence Society (ICS) produced its first Report on the Standardisation of Terminology. The idea of standardisation arose at the first meeting in 1971, convened by Eric Glen in Exeter, with the meeting members at the time initially called the Continence Club. The same words were being used by different interest groups to mean different things. The first ICS Standardisation Committee was formed in 1972 with the first three reports between 1976 and 1980. ICS has dominated standardisation of lower urinary tract and pelvic floor terminology for both sexes from then up till the present day. Forty standardisation documents have been published in the years 1976-2026, creating twenty-four current reports and 2068 definitions, as noted on the ICS Glossary digital platform. Standardisation documents are generally highly cited over time with “core” lower urinary tract dysfunction documents achieving many thousands of citations. That ICS standardisation history will be outlined in the following article including the documents, working groups, the ongoing Standardisation Committee and methodology. The closest working relationship with another Society was that with the International Urogynecological Association (IUGA) accounting for eight standardisation documents between 2010-2018. There has been a culture that standardisation is one of the most important aspects of the ICS. It has relied on the dedication of those nine Chairs and hundreds of members of the ICS Standardisation Steering Committees and/or Working Groups over the last 50 years.