The Health Science and Nursing Research Journal (HSNRJ) requires research to be conducted and reported in accordance with applicable ethical principles, institutional requirements, and relevant national and international standards.

Research Involving Human Participants

Research involving human participants, identifiable human data, or human biological materials must comply with applicable ethical requirements.

Where ethical review is required, authors must obtain approval from an appropriate Research Ethics Committee, Institutional Review Board, or equivalent body before conducting the research.

The manuscript should state, where applicable:

• the name of the approving ethics committee or institutional review board;
• the ethical approval or reference number;
• the date or relevant approval information when required; and
• the informed-consent procedure.

HSNRJ may request documentation supporting ethical approval when necessary.

Informed Consent

Authors must obtain informed consent from research participants when required by applicable ethical standards.

Participation should be voluntary, and participants should receive sufficient information concerning the research before providing consent.

When informed consent has been waived by an authorized ethics committee, the manuscript should clearly state the waiver and its ethical basis where appropriate.

Privacy and Confidentiality

Authors must protect participants' privacy and confidentiality.

Personally identifiable information should not be published unless scientifically necessary and appropriate consent for publication has been obtained.

Authors should take particular care with photographs, case descriptions, genomic information, medical records, and other information from which participants could reasonably be identified.

Vulnerable Populations

Research involving children, individuals with impaired decision-making capacity, economically or socially vulnerable populations, or other populations requiring additional protection must demonstrate appropriate ethical safeguards.

Consent and assent procedures should be described where applicable.

Clinical Trials

Clinical trials should comply with applicable ethical, methodological, and registration requirements.

Where prospective trial registration is required by applicable standards, authors should provide the name of the trial registry and registration number.

Research Involving Animals

Research involving animals must comply with applicable institutional, national, and internationally recognized animal-welfare standards.

Authors should report appropriate ethical approval and describe relevant measures taken to minimize unnecessary animal suffering.

Ethical Approval Exemptions

If a study did not require formal ethical approval under applicable institutional or national rules, authors should clearly explain the basis for the exemption when ethical review would otherwise reasonably be expected.

Statements such as "ethical approval was not required" may be subject to editorial verification.

Retrospective Ethical Approval

HSNRJ generally expects required ethical approval to have been obtained before research involving human participants or animals is conducted.

Retrospective approval does not automatically resolve ethical concerns where prior approval was required.

Editorial Verification

The presence of an ethics approval statement does not prevent the journal from requesting additional information.

If editors have reasonable concerns regarding participant protection, consent, ethical approval, or the conduct of the research, HSNRJ may request supporting documentation and may decline publication even when authors report having received ethics approval.