The journal endorses the Helsinki Declaration and the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.
Human Experiments
Studies involving human participants must be performed in accordance with relevant institutional and national guidelines, with the appropriate institutional ethics committee’s approval and informed written consent from all human subjects involved in the study.
Manuscripts reporting clinical trial data need to include the name of the public registry under which the clinical trial has been registered, and the number of the trial. For most article types, the information should appear in the Materials and Methods section. For example: This study was carried out in accordance with the recommendations of ‘name of guidelines, name of committee’ with written informed consent from all subjects.
Should the study be exempt from this requirement, authors need to clearly state the reasons in the cover letter and manuscript. For incompetent patients (e.g., young children, unconscious patients) some form of consent, such as from family members, is needed.
Animal Experiments
When experimental animals are used the methods section must clearly indicate that adequate measures were taken to minimize pain or discomfort. Experiments should be carried out in accordance national guidelines and regulations. In the manuscript, authors must identify the full name of the ethics committee that approved the work. For most article types, this statement should appear in the Materials and Methods section.
Should the study be exempt from this requirement, authors need to clearly state the reasons in the cover letter and manuscript.