7. INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD APPROVAL AND INFORMED CONSENT.
Papers that report results of data collected from human participants must include a statement that written informed consent was obtained from participants after adequately explaining the study’s procedures to them. Deviations from the standard written informed consent process should be fully explained. Approval by an Institutional Review Board or Ethics Committee should be documented and mentioned in the written report.
In your cover letter to the editor please address these issues.
- Was the research with human participants approved by an institutional ethics committee or institutional review board (“IRB”)? Please explain.
- Does the manuscript itself answer question #1? If so, on what page? If not, please add this to the manuscript and provide the page number in your cover letter.
- Did the participants give informed consent to be involved in this research? Please explain.
- Does the manuscript itself answer question #3? If so, on what page? If not, please add this to the manuscript and provide the page number in your cover letter.
- Does the manuscript give any case study or individual participant information? If so, please complete the Case Presentation Checklist