Research Ethics Policy

The Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Allied Health and Pharmacy (JIRAP) is committed to upholding the highest ethical standards in all stages of publication. We adhere to the principles and guidelines set forth by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and the World Medical Association's Declaration of Helsinki.

All authors are required to confirm that their submitted work complies with this policy.

1. Research Involving Human Subjects

For any research involving human participants, including clinical trials, surveys, observational studies, and qualitative research, authors must comply with the following:

  • Ethical Approval:The manuscript must state the name of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) or independent ethics committee that approved the study, along with the official approval number. Research must be conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the approving committee and the Declaration of Helsinki.
  • Informed Consent:A clear statement must be included in the manuscript describing the process of obtaining informed consent from all participants or their legally authorized representatives. For research involving vulnerable groups, special care must be documented.
  • Privacy and Confidentiality:Authors have a duty to protect participants' anonymity. Identifying details (names, initials, hospital numbers, dates, specific biometric identifiers, etc.) must be omitted from the manuscript.

2. Publishing Images and Case Details from Human Participants

When a manuscript includes identifiable images (e.g., photographs, videos, radiological images) or detailed case reports of individual patients, authors must obtain and archive specific written informed consent for publication.

  • The consent form must explicitly state that the participant understands their image and details will be publicly available in a journal article.
  • JIRAP's editors reserve the right to request a copy of the signed consent form prior to publication.

3. Research Involving Animal Subjects

All studies involving laboratory animals must be conducted responsibly. Authors must provide:

  • A statement confirming that all procedures were performed in compliance with relevant institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals (e.g., the NIH Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals).
  • The name of the ethics committee that reviewed and approved the animal study protocol.

4. Clinical Trial Registration

JIRAP endorses the ICMJE requirement for clinical trial registration.

  • All clinical trialsmust be registered in a publicly accessible registry (e.g., gov, the WHO's International Clinical Trials Registry Platform) before the enrollment of the first patient.
  • The trial registration number and the name of the registry must be provided at the end of the abstract.

5. Authorship and Originality

  • Authorshipmust be based on the ICMJE recommendations, meaning all listed authors must have made substantial intellectual contributions to the work.
  • Originality:Submissions must be the original work of the authors and must not have been published previously or be under consideration by another journal. Plagiarism in any form is unacceptable and will be dealt with according to our Plagiarism Policy.