Ethics Approval, Informed Consent & Case Reports Policy

The Health and Research Journal is committed to ethical research and the protection of participants. Authors must ensure that all research is conducted in accordance with applicable ethical standards and legal requirements.

Ethics approval

For studies involving human participants, human data, or human biological material, authors must:

• state that the study received approval from an appropriate Research Ethics Committee/IRB (or provide a clear justification when ethics approval was not required), and

• include the name of the ethics committee, approval/reference number (if available), and date (if available).

For studies involving animals, authors must state that the work complied with relevant institutional and national guidelines and received approval where required.

Informed consent and participant privacy

Where applicable, authors must confirm that informed consent was obtained from participants. Authors must protect participant confidentiality and should not publish identifiable information unless it is essential and explicit consent has been obtained.

Case reports and clinical images

For case reports, case series, and clinical images, authors must obtain written informed consent for publication from the patient (or legally authorized representative). Authors must confirm this in the manuscript.
Identifying details should be removed whenever possible. If complete anonymization cannot be guaranteed, this should be stated, and explicit consent for publication is required.

Authors should note that complete anonymity cannot be guaranteed, even when identifiers are removed.

Use of routinely collected/secondary data

For studies using routinely collected or secondary data (e.g., medical records, registries), authors must describe:

• the legal/ethical basis for data access and use, and

• whether ethics approval and/or consent was required, waived, or not applicable (with justification), and

• the measures taken to protect privacy (e.g., de-identification, aggregation).

Clinical trials and study registration (where applicable)

For clinical trials and other studies that require registration, authors should provide the registration number and registry name (e.g., ClinicalTrials.gov or another recognized registry).

Documentation and editorial checks

The journal may request copies of ethics approval documentation and consent statements (where applicable). Submissions that do not meet ethical requirements may be rejected.