Research Ethics Policy

Journal of Experimental and Clincal Anatomy (JECA) requires ethically appropriate practices in research. The research ethics guidelines for JECA were created according to the policy that this journal accomplished through good research practice by referring to the ethics guidelines of several reference organizations [Council of Science Editors, (http://www.councilscienceeditors.org), International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE, http://www.icmje.org) and World Association of Medical Editors (WAME, http://www.wame.org).

Research must be performed in an ethical manner and adhere to research standards and regulations, domestic and international laws, and guidelines outlined in publications such as the International Council for Harmonization of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH), Good Clinical Practice (GCP) guidelines, Law on Life Ethics and Safety, Medical Law, Pharmacy Law, Medical Device Law, In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Device Law, Law on Advanced Regenerative Medicine and Advanced Bio-pharmaceuticals Safety and Support, Personal Information Protection Law, and the Regulations of Institution or Organization’s Clinical Trial and Medical Research Ethics Committee, among others.

If research deals with data obtained by experiments using human subjects or any human data that has already been obtained in routine working processes or previous studies, a qualified Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC) must be involved in the review of the study. And research must be subsequently approved by this Committee. Fundamentally, we referred to the regulations declared by the World Medical Association as outlined in the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki, https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects.

In the case of research involving animals, the responsible Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) must review and approve the study. Any research that presents severe biosafety issues must be reviewed and approved by an Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC).

Ethical statements should be described in the methods section wherein the approval of the study components by the appropriate review boards must be declared. Furthermore, the manuscript authors must clearly state whether informed consent was required or waived.

Authors must submit proof of IEC approval for their studies and clarify the statements of informed consent in clinical studies using human subjects. To address any misconduct found in submitted manuscripts, JECA will refer to the guidelines outlined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE, http://publicationethics.org).