Ethical Clearance

The International Journal of Health Systems and Well-Being (IJHSWB) ensures that all published research meets the highest ethical standards. Authors are responsible for securing ethical clearance for their studies, particularly when the research involves human participants, personal data, or sensitive information.

1. Requirement of Ethical Approval

  • Research involving human participants, surveys, interviews, or data that may reveal personal or institutional identities must have prior approval from a recognized ethics committee or institutional review board (IRB).
  • Authors must state clearly in their manuscript that ethical clearance was obtained, including the name of the approving body and reference number (if applicable).
  • For studies not requiring formal approval, authors should provide a statement explaining why ethical clearance was not necessary.

2. Informed Consent

  • Authors must ensure that all participants provide informed consent before participating in the study.
  • If minors or vulnerable populations are involved, consent must be obtained from legal guardians or authorized representatives.
  • Details of consent procedures should be briefly described in the Methods section of the manuscript.

3. Confidentiality and Anonymity

  • Authors must safeguard the privacy of participants by anonymizing personal data.
  • Identifiable information must not be published unless explicit written consent has been obtained from the participants.

4. Non-Human Studies

  • Authors must ensure that data usage complies with legal and institutional requirements for studies involving secondary data, archival sources, or non-human subjects.

5. Editorial Oversight

  • The editorial board reserves the right to request evidence of ethical clearance from the authors at any stage of the review or publication process.
  • Manuscripts that do not meet ethical standards may be rejected or retracted.

6. Compliance Statement

By submitting to IJHSWB, authors affirm that their work complies with internationally recognized principles of research ethics and that ethical clearance has been secured where applicable.