Policies

Research ethics and consent

Ethics approval and informed consent for human and animal research.

  • Aligned with COPE Core Practices
  • 2 min read
On this page

At a glance

  • Human and animal research needs prior ethics approval.
  • Informed consent is required and described in the manuscript.
  • Editors may ask to see approval documents at any time.

Research published in Journal Law and Justice must respect the rights, safety, dignity and privacy of the people and animals involved. The journal follows the World Medical Association's Declaration of Helsinki, the ARRIVE guidelines and COPE's guidance on ethical oversight.

Research involving human participants

  • Studies with human participants, human data or human tissue must be approved by an appropriate research ethics committee or institutional review board before they begin.
  • The Methods section names the committee and gives the approval number and date.
  • Research that is exempt from review must say who granted the exemption and why.
  • Participants (or a parent or legal guardian for minors and people unable to consent) must give informed consent, and the manuscript must say how it was obtained (written or verbal).
  • Personal details that could identify a participant (names, initials, photographs, hospital numbers) must not appear unless the participant gave written consent to publish them.
  • Studies with vulnerable groups, such as children, patients, prisoners or communities with limited power, need particular care and justification.

Research involving animals

  • Animal studies must be approved by an animal ethics committee and follow national law and the ARRIVE guidelines.
  • Authors describe how pain and distress were minimised and justify the number of animals used.

Surveys, interviews and online data

Surveys, interviews, classroom research and studies of online communities are research with human participants. They need ethics approval or a documented exemption, informed consent and protection of the participants' data.

Research without people or animals

Manuscripts that do not involve people, personal data or animals state that ethical approval was not required.

What the editors may do

  • Ask to see the approval letter, consent forms or the study protocol at any stage.
  • Decline or retract work that lacks adequate ethical oversight, and inform the authors' institution where appropriate.

Clinical trials should be registered in a public registry before the first participant is enrolled, and the registration number given in the abstract.

Official references

This policy follows these published standards and guidelines. Each link opens the original source.