Ethical Approval

Trends in Scholarly Publishing (TSP) requires compliance with internationally recognized ethical standards in all research involving humans, animals, plants, or biological materials. Authors, reviewers, and editors are expected to follow the guidelines andrelevant codes of conduct developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Submissions that do not meet ethical requirements will be rejected.

Research Involving Human Subjects

Studies involving human participants, human materials, tissues, or data must comply with the Declaration of Helsinki (1975, revised 2013). The Methods section must include the ethics approval code, approval date, and name of the approving institutional review board (IRB) or ethics committee. If a study is exempt from approval, the exemption and justification must be stated.

Informed Consent

For manuscripts containing case details, personal data, or images of patients, authors must confirm that written informed consent for publication was obtained from participants or their legal guardians. A standard patient consent form template is available here:
Patient Consent Form Template

The following requirements apply:

  • Written informed consent must be obtained for all identifiable patient data, including images or case details.
  • Consent may be provided by the patient or, where applicable, by relatives or legal guardians.
  • Patient names, initials, or other personal identifiers must not appear in text, tables, or images.
  • Images must be anonymized; any identifying features must be removed unless scientifically relevant and explicit consent is given.
  • Personal information (e.g., age, ethnicity, occupation) should only be included if directly relevant to the research conclusions.
  • Signed consent forms must not be submitted with the manuscript to protect privacy; authors must retain them and provide copies to the journal on request.
  • Authors must specify in the manuscript that consent was obtained and include an ethical statement confirming compliance.
  • If informed consent was not obtained, authors must provide a detailed justification in the manuscript.
  • The journal reserves the right to reject submissions that do not meet consent requirements.
  • Consent must grant an unlimited license for publication in all formats (print, electronic, online, translations, and derivative works) under open access conditions.

Example of an Ethical Statement:

"The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of [Institution] (approval code, date). Written informed consent was obtained from all participants."

Clinical Trial Registration

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a clinical trial is defined as "any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes." An intervention is any act performed for, with, or on behalf of a person or population with the purpose of assessing, improving, maintaining, promoting, or modifying health, functioning, or health conditions. A health-related outcome includes any change in the health of an individual or population resulting from the intervention.

Authors are required to register all prospective clinical trials (phase II-IV) in a publicly accessible registry, such as www.clinicaltrials.gov or any WHO International Clinical Trial Registry Platform (ICTRP) database. The Trial Registration Number (TRN) and date of registration must be reported in the manuscript and included as the last line of the abstract.

If a trial was not registered prospectively, authors are strongly encouraged to register retrospectively. In such cases, the TRN, date of registration, and the phrase "retrospectively registered" must appear at the end of the abstract.

All clinical trials (phase II-IV) must be prospectively registered in a publicly accessible database such as ClinicalTrials.gov or the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform. The Trial Registration Number (TRN) and date of registration must appear at the end of the abstract. If a trial is registered retrospectively, this must be clearly stated.

Ethical Guidelines for the Use of Animals in Research

All research involving animals must comply with national legislation and internationally accepted ethical standards. Studies should ensure that the potential scientific benefits outweigh the costs endured by the animals and that procedures are conducted in a way that minimizes suffering and avoids unnecessary harm.

Authors must follow the 3Rs principles:

  • Replacement of animals with alternatives whenever possible
  • Reduction in the number of animals used
  • Refinement of experimental conditions and procedures to minimize harm

Manuscripts reporting research on animals must state approval from a recognized institutional or national animal ethics committee. The Methods section should include the project identification code, approval date, and the name of the ethics committee or review board.Authors are encouraged to consult the Code of Practice for the Housing and Care of Animals Used in Scientific Procedures for further guidance .

TSP supports the adoption of the ARRIVE guidelines for reporting animal research, and authors and reviewers are encouraged to use the ARRIVE checklist to ensure comprehensive and transparent reporting.

Research Involving Cell Lines

Manuscripts reporting research with cell lines must provide complete information in the Methods section, including:

  • The origin of the cell lines (e.g., human or animal), when and where they were obtained
  • Authentication status and method of authentication
  • References to published sources or commercial suppliers, including company name, cell type, number of cell lines, and batch information

If previously unpublished de novo cell lines were used, or if cell lines were obtained as a gift from another laboratory, details of institutional review board or ethics committee approval must be provided. For cell lines of human origin, authors must confirm that written informed consent was obtained from donors.

To prevent misidentification or contamination, authors are strongly encouraged to check cell lines against resources such as the NCBI database and the International Cell Line Authentication Committee (ICLAC) before conducting experiments or submitting manuscripts.

An example of Ethical Statements

The HCT116 cell line was obtained from XXXX. The MLH1+ cell line was provided by XXXXX, Ltd. The DLD-1 cell line was obtained from Dr. XXXX. The DR-GFP and SA-GFP reporter plasmids were obtained from Dr. XXX and the Rad51K133A expression vector was obtained from Dr. XXXX.

Research Involving Plants

Experimental research involving plants, whether cultivated or wild, must comply with institutional, national, and international regulations, including the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

For each manuscript, authors must provide genetic information and details on the origin of plant materials. Research involving rare or non-model plants (excluding commonly studied species such as Arabidopsis thaliana, Nicotiana benthamiana, Oryza sativa) requires the deposition of voucher specimens in an accessible herbarium or museum. Voucher records should include population location (GPS coordinates), date of collection, and documentation of the plant parts used. These vouchers may be requested by future investigators for verification, particularly if taxonomic changes occur.

Exceptions for rare, threatened, or endangered species may be considered, but authors must provide a justification in the cover letter. The editors reserve the right to reject submissions that do not comply with these requirements.

Example of an Ethical Statement:

Toreniafournieri plants were used in this study. White-flowered Crown White (CrW) and violet-flowered Crown Violet (CrV) cultivars selected from 'Crown Mix' (XXX Company, City, Country) were kindly provided by Dr. XXX (XXX Institute, City, Country). Arabidopsis mutant lines (SALKxxxx, SAILxxxx,...) were kindly provided by Dr. XXX (XXX Institute, City, Country).

Retrospective Ethics Approval

TSP does not permit retrospective ethics approval. If a study did not receive approval from an ethics committee prior to the start of research, approval cannot be granted after the fact. Articles based on such studies will not be considered for peer review.

Ethical Approval for Retrospective Studies

Retrospective studies (e.g., those using existing records, archived data, or previously collected materials) may still require ethics approval, depending on national laws and institutional policies. Authors are responsible for confirming whether approval or exemption is needed from their institution's ethics committee and must clearly state this in the manuscript. Where informed consent is not required or cannot reasonably be obtained, a justification must be provided.