Research Ethics Consent

Editorial Policies

The Journal of Rural and Tropical Nursing (JRTN) requires that all research involving human participants has been conducted in accordance with applicable ethical standards. Authors must confirm compliance with ethics and consent requirements before submission and in the manuscript.

Ethics Approval

Required for human research: all studies involving human participants, human data, biological samples, or identifiable personal information must have received approval from an appropriately constituted ethics committee or institutional review board (IRB) before data collection began.

Reported in the manuscript: the name of the approving ethics committee, the approval number, and the date of approval must be stated in the Ethics section of the manuscript.

Included on the Title Page: ethics approval details must also be included in the declarations on the Title Page.

Waiver justified: if ethics committee review was not required or was formally waived, authors must state the basis for this in the Ethics section of the manuscript.

JRTN follows the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and the applicable international and national standards for research ethics. Studies conducted prior to the establishment of formal ethics review processes at an institution should explain this context in the manuscript.
Participant consent Authors must confirm that informed consent was obtained from all human participants before data collection, or that consent was formally waived by the ethics committee with documented justification. A statement confirming this must appear in the manuscript.
Publication consent for case reports Case reports, case series, and any manuscript that contains identifiable information about an individual — including photographs, clinical details, or personal characteristics — require written consent from the individual for publication of that information. Authors must state that consent was obtained, and a copy may be requested by the editorial office.
Consent for data reuse When a study uses data collected for a different original purpose, authors must confirm that the original consent covered the current use or that a waiver was granted by the ethics committee.
Vulnerable populations Research involving children, older adults, individuals with cognitive impairment, prisoners, or others who may be unable to give fully free and informed consent must describe the specific protections that were in place, including the involvement of a legally authorised representative where required.

Clinical Trial Registration

JRTN requires that clinical trials be prospectively registered in a publicly accessible primary registry before participant enrolment begins. The registry name, unique trial identification number, and registration date must be reported in the manuscript.

Acceptable registries

JRTN accepts registries that meet WHO criteria for primary registries, including ClinicalTrials.gov, ANZCTR, ISRCTN, and similar nationally or internationally recognised registries. Retrospectively registered trials must provide a clear explanation for the delay.

Animal Research

Manuscripts reporting research involving animals must confirm that the study was conducted in compliance with applicable institutional and national regulations for the care and use of animals. The name of the approving ethics committee and the approval number must be stated. JRTN encourages reporting in accordance with the ARRIVE guidelines.