Protection of Research Participants

Ethical Standards in Human Research

When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors must indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation — both institutional and national. In situations where no formal ethics committee is available, the research should comply with the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki as revised in 2013.

If any doubt exists about whether the research was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, authors must explain the rationale for their approach and demonstrate that the institutional review body explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study.

Patient Privacy and Informed Consent

Patients have a right to privacy that should not be violated without informed consent. Identifying information — including names, initials, hospital numbers, or any other details that could reveal identity — should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) has given written informed consent for publication.

Informed consent for publication requires that an identifiable patient be shown the manuscript to be published. Authors should disclose to patients whether any potentially identifiable material might be available via the Internet as well as in print after publication.

Patient consent should be written and archived either with the journal, the authors, or both, as dictated by local regulations or laws. Since applicable laws vary from place to place, authors should ensure compliance with their local requirements.

Anonymization Requirements

Nonessential identifying details must be omitted from all submissions. Informed consent should be obtained if there is any doubt that anonymity can be maintained.

It is important to note that masking the eye region in photographs of patients is generally inadequate protection of anonymity. If identifying characteristics are altered or de-identified, authors should provide assurance that such changes do not distort the scientific meaning of the work.

Animal Research Ethics

When reporting experiments on animals, authors must indicate whether institutional and national standards for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed. Further guidance on animal research ethics is available from the International Association of Veterinary Editors' Consensus Author Guidelines on Animal Ethics and Welfare.

International Journal of Medical Anesthesiology Policy

The International Journal of Medical Anesthesiology adheres strictly to its policy of human and animal rights protection. We require a clear Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC) or Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC) approval before accepting any research article involving human or animal participation.

For any research or case report/case series intended for publication in International Journal of Medical Anesthesiology, a thoroughly obtained informed consent is mandatory. If any information or photograph of participants is used in a research paper, it requires substantial masking of details that could reveal the identity of the individual.

International Journal of Medical Anesthesiology also requires that clinical research be registered at CTRI (Clinical Trials Registry - India) if conducted in India, or at an appropriate Clinical Trial Registry of the respective country where the research is primarily conducted.

Corrections, Retractions and Expressions of Concern

International Journal of Medical Anesthesiology maintains a clear policy on post-publication review. Readers are welcome to submit comments and concerns about published articles. In case of identification of any issue requiring correction, the corrections may be published in the next available issue.

Retractions may be warranted upon disclosure of a major issue related to an article after publication. Expressions of concern may also be published in the journal when there are concerns about a particular aspect of an article that do not yet warrant full retraction.