Research Ethics and Ethical Clearance

Research Ethics and Ethical Clearance

This journal is committed to ensuring that all published research adheres to the safety, rights, privacy, and dignity of humans and the welfare of animals involved in the research.

Authors are responsible for conducting research in accordance with ethical principles, including voluntary participation, informed consent, protection of identity, data confidentiality, and prevention of risk or harm to all parties involved.

Research Required for Ethical Clearance

Authors are required to obtain ethical clearance if the research meets one or more of the following criteria:

1. Providing specific treatments to humans or animals

A specific treatment is an activity intentionally administered by researchers to determine its effect on specific behaviors, conditions, or outcomes.

In management research, these treatments may include:

  1. providing employee training;
  2. implementing a specific incentive system;
  3. changing work patterns or work schedules;
  4. using specific learning methods;
  5. providing different advertisements, information, or scenarios to groups of respondents;
  6. simulating decision-making;
  7. applying time pressure or certain conditions; and
  8. dividing respondents into treatment and control groups.

Regular questionnaires or interviews that only ask for respondents' opinions, perceptions, or experiences do not constitute treatment, as long as they do not discuss sensitive information and do not pose a risk to respondents.

2. Involving groups requiring special protection

These groups include:

  1. children or individuals under 18 years of age;
  2. patients or individuals undergoing treatment;
  3. individuals with certain limitations in providing consent;
  4. victims of violence, abuse, disaster, or trauma;
  5. employees who may feel coerced by their superiors into conducting the research; and
  6. other groups in positions of dependency or who are vulnerable to pressure.

3. Collecting physical or psychological health data

This data may include health conditions, severe stress, depression, anxiety, trauma, mental exhaustion, medication use, medical history, or other health information.

4. Discussing sensitive topics or experiences

Sensitive topics include:

  1. violence or harassment;
  2. discrimination;
  3. workplace bullying;
  4. illegal behavior;
  5. serious conflict within the organization;
  6. termination of employment;
  7. personal financial situation, debt, or economic hardship;
  8. traumatic experiences; and
  9. other information that may cause distress or discomfort to respondents.

5. Using personal data that could pose a risk

Ethical clearance is required if the collection or dissemination of data could pose a risk to the employment, income, security, legal status, social relationships, or reputation of the person being researched.

6. Collecting information that could identify the respondent

This information may include full names, identity numbers, addresses, telephone numbers, voice recordings, video recordings, facial photographs, location, employment data, or any combination of data that could allow an individual to be identified.

7. Using confidential internal data

This includes employee personal data, performance evaluation records, violation histories, employee health data, individual payroll information, and organizational documents that are not publicly available.

Research That Doesn't Always Require Ethical Clearance

Ethical clearance is not always required for:

  1. general questionnaires that pose minimal risk to adult respondents;
  2. interviews that do not discuss sensitive information;
  3. observations of activities taking place in public spaces without recording individual identities;
  4. research that uses anonymized company data;
  5. research that uses publicly available secondary data;
  6. literature studies;
  7. bibliometric research;
  8. conceptual articles; and
  9. research that does not involve direct interaction with humans or animals.

Although not requiring ethical clearance, research using respondents or informants must still implement voluntary consent, identity protection, and data confidentiality. Respondent Consent or Informed Consent

Authors who collect data directly from respondents or informants are required to provide an explanation regarding:

  1. the purpose of the research;
  2. the activities to be undertaken by the respondents;
  3. the voluntary nature of participation;
  4. the right to refuse or discontinue participation;
  5. potential risks or discomfort;
  6. how the researcher will maintain the confidentiality of identity and data; and
  7. the use of data for scientific publication.

Consent can be given in writing, electronically, or through other verifiable means appropriate to the characteristics of the research.

Respondent participation should not be obtained through coercion, pressure, threats, or the influence of official relationships.

Documents Authors Must Submit

If the research requires ethical clearance, authors must:

  1. obtain ethical approval before data collection;
  2. include the name of the institution or ethics committee;
  3. include the number and date or year of the ethical approval;
  4. upload the ethical clearance document as an additional file when submitting the article; and
  5. Explain the respondent consent procedure in the methods section.

Example statement:

This research has obtained ethics approval from [name of committee or institution] under number [document number], date [approval date]. All respondents have received an explanation of the research and provided voluntary consent.

If the research is minimal risk and does not require ethical clearance, authors should include the following statement or another appropriate statement:

This research is a minimal risk survey of adult respondents. Respondent participation is voluntary. The researcher has obtained the respondents' consent and maintains the confidentiality of their identities and the data provided.

For research using public and anonymous secondary data, authors may include:

This research uses publicly available secondary data and does not contain personal information that could be used to identify individuals. Therefore, this research does not require ethical clearance.

Editorial Authority

Editors have the right to request ethical clearance documents, proof of respondent consent, a letter of exemption from the ethics committee, or additional explanations if there are doubts regarding the protection of parties involved in the research.

Authors' statements that the research does not require ethical clearance are not automatically accepted. Editors will consider the characteristics of the respondents, the type of data, the sensitivity of the information, the treatment provided, and the potential risks involved.

Articles may be rejected or their publication process suspended if:

  1. the research that should have obtained ethical clearance does not have such documentation;
  2. ethics approval was obtained after data collection without an acceptable explanation;
  3. the authors did not explain the respondent consent process;
  4. there is evidence of coercion against respondents;
  5. the identity or personal data was not adequately protected; or
  6. the authors provided inaccurate information regarding ethics approval.

In certain circumstances, the final decision regarding the need for ethical clearance rests with the editor, taking into account the regulations of the publishing institution and the assessment of the authorized ethics committee.