Ethical Oversight

Ethical Approval 

To publish an article in Brieflands, the author(s) are requested to get the ethical permission from their institute. This permission should include an agreement to adhere to standard ethical behavior.

• "Ethical Approval Code" must be obtained for any studies involving people, medical records, and human samples.
• This code must be linked to a webpage which provides the details of the approval.
• The code must be approved by the authors' local authorities, such as the national center of ethics or the ethics department of universities.

How can I receive the "Ethical Approval Code"?

Before you begin any research project involving human participants or personal data, you must obtain ethical approval from one of the University's research ethics committees. The information needed to apply for approval will vary depending on the discipline and type of research you plan to conduct.

Examples of local ethics authorities in different universities:

• Ethical approval in UK Research and Innovation

• Ethical approval in The University of Sheffield

Informed Consents 

1. Submitting informed consent during submission is required for all research on human subjects.
2. Informed consent should be written in the "Methods" section of the manuscript.
3. For studies using live animals or human subjects, the author should also state that all experiments were performed in compliance with the relevant laws and institutional guidelines and state the institutional committee(s) that has approved the experiments.

Download Informed Consents Samples

• Some samples of Informed Consent from clinical studies can be downloaded below:
  • in English
  • in Persian:
    • Template 1
    • Template 2.
• Link to WHO webpage, including all other templates of informed consent
• Consent Form for Case Reports

Which type of manuscripts are required to declare "Ethical Approval Code" and "Informed Consents"?

The below table describes the requirements of the Ethical Approval Code and Informed Consents in different types of manuscripts.

Table notes:

• * Veterinary clinical cases: For studies using client-owned animals, a high standard (best practice) of veterinary care and an informed client consent statement should be included in the Materials and Methods section.
• * Animal Studies: The ethical review committee approval, and the international, national, and/or institutional guidelines followed regarding the animal's welfare is strongly required in these types of studies.
• ** In vitro studies on human or animal tissues are obliged to show an "ethical approval code".
• ***  Case reports are not obliged to show an “Ethical Approval Code”. However, it is strongly recommended to obtain written and signed informed consent from patients/ guardians for publishing the case report. 

Which type of manuscript does not need an ethical approval code?

• Studies involving the collection or analysis of data
• Studies involving information freely available in the public domain (e.g. published biographies, newspaper accounts)
• Review articles
• Letter or editorial