Human and Animal Rights
- Human Rights
Every clinical study must follow the guidelines set out in the Declaration of Helsinki. Formal review and approval by an appropriate institutional review board or ethics committee is required for any work involving human subjects.
- Studies involving Animals
The eighth edition of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals" (https://grants.nih.gov/grants/olaw/guide-for-the-care-and-use-of-laboratory-animals_prepub.pdf), published by the National Academy of Sciences, The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., should be consulted by authors when conducting research involving animals to determine whether the protocols followed meet the standards. The NC3Rs ARRIVE Guidelines should be followed when conducting research involving animals. Visit https://www.nc3rs.org.uk/arrive-guidelines for information on in vivo research.
The name of the approval committee, the fact that ethical and legal approval was obtained prior to beginning an animal research project, and the fact that the studies were conducted in accordance with the applicable rules and regulations listed below must be detailed by the authors:
- The US National Research Council's "Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals" and the US Public Health Service's "Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals" should be cited by US authors.
- The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 Amendment Regulations (SI 2012/3039) require UK authors to comply with UK law.
- The ethical criteria of the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS) and the Basel Declaration must be followed when conducting research on animals.
- The manuscript must clearly include a declaration of compliance with relevant guidelines (e.g. the revised Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in the UK and Directive 2010/63/EU in Europe) and/or relevant permissions or licenses obtained by the IUCN Policy Statement on Research Involving Species at Risk of Extinction and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
- Plant-related research
All plant experiments must comply with international regulations, regardless of whether they involve cultivated or wild specimens. The manuscript must be accompanied by a declaration that the field studies comply with all applicable regulations and/or licenses issued in the IUCN Policy Statement on Research Involving Species at Risk of Extinction and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
