Informed Consent

The Journal of Fundamental and Applied Research is committed to ensuring that the rights of individuals involved in research are respected and protected. Informed consent is a fundamental ethical requirement in research involving human participants or biological material. Authors must adhere to strict guidelines to ensure that consent is obtained, documented, and respected at every stage of the research process.

Informed Consent

All individuals participating in studies have the right to decide how their personal data, images, and other identifiable information are used. This is particularly crucial when dealing with vulnerable populations such as minors, patients, or refugees, or in sensitive contexts. Authors are responsible for ensuring that written informed consent is obtained before using images, personal data, or other identifying details from participants.

• Confidentiality: Identifiable details (e.g., names, birthdates, biometric characteristics, or genetic information) should not be published unless essential for scholarly purposes and the participant (or their guardian if applicable) has provided written informed consent for publication.
• Anonymity: While anonymity is encouraged, authors must take steps to protect participants' identities, ensuring that any identifiable characteristics are either masked or altered to prevent disclosure. Alterations must not distort the meaning or context of the work.
• Images: In cases where photographs are used, authors must ensure that they have obtained written consent from the participants, particularly if the image may potentially reveal their identity. Incomplete masking (e.g., masking the eyes) is insufficient to protect anonymity.
• Exceptions: Consent is not necessary for images like X-rays, ultrasound scans, brain scans, or pathology slides unless identifying information is present, in which case, consent must be obtained. If images are reused from prior publications, the publisher assumes the prior consent was appropriately obtained.

Consent and Already Available Data and/or Biological Material

• Living or Deceased Participants: If data or biological material is collected from living or deceased patients, consent must be obtained from the participant (or from a legal guardian or family member if the patient is deceased and did not provide pre-mortem consent). The wishes of the deceased regarding data use should be respected in all cases.
• Confidentiality: All data provided should be handled with the utmost confidentiality. Any personal information gathered during research must be used in a manner that adheres to privacy laws and ethical standards.

Data Protection, Confidentiality, and Privacy

Authors are required to ensure that participants are fully informed about what personal data will be processed, how it will be used, and for what purpose. If data is obtained from biobanks or biorepositories, authors must verify that participants have given broad consent, which allows for the use of their data across various types of research. However, authors should always check the specific policies of the biobank or data provider to ensure compliance.

• Transparency: Authors must clearly state how personal data will be handled, processed, and stored, and ensure that participants understand the extent of their involvement in the research.

Consent to Participate

For all research involving human subjects, authors must obtain informed consent from participants (or their legal guardians if participants are under 16 years old). The manuscript must include a statement indicating that consent was obtained.

• In the case of human transplantation studies, authors must declare that no organs or tissues were obtained from prisoners and should specify the institution(s)/clinic(s) through which the organs or tissues were sourced.
• Vulnerable Groups: In research involving vulnerable groups (e.g., children, patients with cognitive impairments), additional scrutiny is required to ensure that consent was given freely and without coercion. The editorial team may refer these studies to the Springer Nature Research Integrity Group for further review.

Consent to Publish

While participants may consent to participate in a study, they may object to having their data or images published. Authors are required to obtain explicit consent to publish from participants before submitting the manuscript. This is especially critical in case studies.

• Examples of Consent to Publish:
• "The authors affirm that human research participants provided informed consent for publication of the images in Figure(s) 1a, 1b, and 1c."
• "The patient has consented to the submission of the case report for publication."
• "Patients signed informed consent regarding publishing their data and photographs."

For articles involving sensitive data, the authors should ensure that additional informed consent is obtained from participants whose identifying information appears in the manuscript.

Summary of Requirements

All required consents should be summarized and included in the manuscript under the section titled "Declarations" before the reference list. Other necessary declarations include:

• Funding: Sources of financial support for the research.
• Conflicts of Interest/Competing Interests: Any potential conflicts of interest that could influence the research.
• Ethics Approval: Confirmation that the research was approved by the relevant ethics committees.
• Consent: Consent to participate and consent to publish statements.
• Data and/or Code Availability: Whether data and/or code related to the research is available for public access.
• Authors’ Contribution Statements: A breakdown of each author's contribution to the research.

If any of these sections do not apply to the manuscript, authors should include the heading with "Not applicable" written below it.

Failure to Meet Consent Guidelines

Failure to obtain and properly document informed consent can result in the manuscript being rejected. If an article is published without the required informed consent, the images or data may be removed, or a retraction may be issued, with an accompanying explanation for the removal.

Authors are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the statements regarding informed consent in their manuscripts. The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to reject submissions that do not meet the consent and ethical guidelines outlined in this policy.