Protection of Research Participants

Adopted from ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals

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.

Participant Privacy and Informed Consent

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— including names, initials, student or hospital numbers, or any other details that could reveal identity — should not be published in written descriptions, or photographs unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the participant (or parent or guardian) has given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

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

Participant 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 participants 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.

International Journal of Research in Special Education Policy

The International Journal of Research in Special Education adheres strictly to its policy of human participant rights protection. We require a clear Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC) approval before accepting any research article involving human participation.

For any research or case report/case series intended for publication in International Journal of Research in Special Education, 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 Research in Special Education also requires that interventional research involving human participants 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 Research in Special Education 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.