The Pathophysiology of Cell Injury Journal (PCIJ) strictly follows the ethical standards established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the Declaration of Helsinki, the ARRIVE Guidelines, and COPE Core Practices. Authors must include clear statements in their manuscripts confirming compliance with all applicable institutional and international ethical guidelines for human and animal research.
Research Involving Human Subjects
- Authors must state that all procedures involving human participants were conducted in accordance with institutional and national research committee standards, and with the Declaration of Helsinki (1975, revised 2000).
- Manuscripts must include the name of the approving Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Ethics Committee, along with the approval number and date.
- Authors must confirm that written informed consent was obtained from all participants (or their guardians) before inclusion in the study.
- Patient anonymity must be preserved. Identifying information, including names, initials, photographs, or hospital identifiers, should not be published unless essential for scientific purposes and explicit written consent has been obtained.
“Patients have a right to privacy that should not be infringed without informed consent. Identifying information should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication.”
— International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals,” February 2006
Research Involving Animals
- All studies involving animals must conform to institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals.
- Authors should state that ethical approval or license for animal experimentation was obtained from the appropriate authority, including the name of the committee and permit number.
- When ethical approval was not required, the authors must provide a clear justification explaining why approval was unnecessary.
- All reasonable measures must be taken to minimize animal suffering. Details of housing, anesthesia, and euthanasia procedures should be described to demonstrate adherence to humane practices.
- For studies involving non-human primates, research must comply with the recommendations of the Weatherall Report (“The use of non-human primates in research”).
- PCIJ strongly encourages adherence to the ARRIVE Guidelines (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments, 2014, NC3Rs) to ensure transparency and reproducibility in animal research.
Authors should ensure that all experimental protocols follow national and international regulations and that efforts were made to ameliorate any suffering of animals. Where applicable, ARRIVE checklist items should be included in the manuscript.
Reporting and Documentation Requirements
- Include a distinct “Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate” section in every manuscript.
- Provide approval ID or reference number for both human and animal studies.
- In clinical or epidemiologic studies, include confirmation that informed consent was obtained from all participants.
- Manuscripts lacking required ethical approval documentation may be rejected without peer review.
PCIJ requires all authors to demonstrate that ethical considerations have been addressed in accordance with internationally accepted standards for human and animal research.
