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CONTRIBUTING.md

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+# Contributing to CogOS Research
+
+Thanks for your interest. This repo holds the public research underlying CogOS — the EA/EFM thesis, the LoRO framework, and proof-of-concept experiments.
+
+## What contributions are welcome
+
+- **Clarifications and corrections** to existing theses and frameworks
+- **Prior-art citations** that contextualize or challenge claims
+- **PoC experiments** that test framework predictions empirically
+- **Typos, formatting, link rot** — always welcome
+
+## What contributions need discussion first
+
+- **Framework-level changes** to the EA/EFM thesis or LoRO framework
+- **New theoretical claims** — open an issue first with the thesis sketch
+- **Large literature-review additions** — scope-check via issue before investing effort
+
+Open a [Feature Request](https://github.com/cogos-dev/research/issues/new?template=feature.yml) to propose the shape of a large change before drafting it.
+
+## Document conventions
+
+- Prose docs live under `eaefm/`, `loro/`, and sibling directories
+- PoC experiments live under `poc/` with their own README per experiment
+- Papers live under `papers/` (preprint PDF + LaTeX source where applicable)
+- Markdown uses GFM
+- Citations: inline `[Author YYYY]` + bibliography section
+
+## Reproducibility for PoC contributions
+
+If your PoC involves code:
+
+1. Include a self-contained README with exact run commands
+2. Pin dependencies (`requirements.txt`, `environment.yml`, or equivalent)
+3. Seed RNGs and note the seeds in the README
+4. Document hardware (CPU / GPU / RAM) the experiment was run on
+
+## Submitting changes
+
+1. Fork the repo and create a branch from `main`
+2. Make your changes
+3. Verify markdown renders (GitHub preview is fine for smoke-testing)
+4. Open a pull request using the org PR template
+
+## Reporting issues
+
+Use the org-level [Bug Report](https://github.com/cogos-dev/research/issues/new?template=bug.yml) or [Feature Request](https://github.com/cogos-dev/research/issues/new?template=feature.yml) forms.
+
+## License
+
+By contributing, you agree that your contributions will be licensed under the [MIT License](LICENSE). This includes text, figures, and PoC code.