diff --git a/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md b/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
deleted file mode 100644
index b0e6c84..0000000
--- a/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,25 +0,0 @@
-# Contributor Code of Conduct
-
-As contributors and maintainers of this project, we pledge to respect all people who 
-contribute through reporting issues, posting feature requests, updating documentation,
-submitting pull requests or patches, and other activities.
-
-We are committed to making participation in this project a harassment-free experience for
-everyone, regardless of level of experience, gender, gender identity and expression,
-sexual orientation, disability, personal appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, age, or religion.
-
-Examples of unacceptable behavior by participants include the use of sexual language or
-imagery, derogatory comments or personal attacks, trolling, public or private harassment,
-insults, or other unprofessional conduct.
-
-Project maintainers have the right and responsibility to remove, edit, or reject comments,
-commits, code, wiki edits, issues, and other contributions that are not aligned to this 
-Code of Conduct. Project maintainers who do not follow the Code of Conduct may be removed 
-from the project team.
-
-Instances of abusive, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behavior may be reported by 
-opening an issue or contacting one or more of the project maintainers.
-
-This Code of Conduct is adapted from the Contributor Covenant 
-(https://contributor-covenant.org), version 1.0.0, available at 
-http://contributor-covenant.org/version/1/0/0/
diff --git a/README.Rmd b/README.Rmd
index 694b430..c4d77ec 100644
--- a/README.Rmd
+++ b/README.Rmd
@@ -142,9 +142,6 @@ res$data[,1:5]
 * Please [report any issues or bugs](https://github.com/ropensci/rvertnet/issues).
 * License: MIT
 * Get citation information for `rvertnet` in R doing `citation(package = 'rvertnet')`
-* Please note that this project is released with a [Contributor Code of Conduct][coc].
-By participating in this project you agree to abide by its terms.
+* Please note that this package is released with a [Contributor Code of Conduct](https://ropensci.org/code-of-conduct/). By contributing to this project, you agree to abide by its terms.
 
 [![ropensci_footer](https://ropensci.org/public_images/github_footer.png)](https://ropensci.org)
-
-[coc]: https://github.com/ropensci/rvertnet/blob/master/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c60b8ba..f5727aa 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -220,9 +220,6 @@ res$data[,1:5]
 * Please [report any issues or bugs](https://github.com/ropensci/rvertnet/issues).
 * License: MIT
 * Get citation information for `rvertnet` in R doing `citation(package = 'rvertnet')`
-* Please note that this project is released with a [Contributor Code of Conduct][coc].
-By participating in this project you agree to abide by its terms.
+* Please note that this package is released with a [Contributor Code of Conduct](https://ropensci.org/code-of-conduct/). By contributing to this project, you agree to abide by its terms.
 
 [![ropensci_footer](https://ropensci.org/public_images/github_footer.png)](https://ropensci.org)
-
-[coc]: https://github.com/ropensci/rvertnet/blob/master/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md