Research Ethics: A Quick-Reference Guide for Authors

Ethical research practice needs to be visible in your manuscript, not just followed during data collection. Reviewers and editors look for explicit statements, not assumptions. Informed consent: state how consent was obtained and by which ethics body the study was approved, including a reference or approval number where applicable. Authorship: every listed author should have made a substantive contribution and agreed to the final version — disputes over authorship are one of the most common post-publication issues editorial teams handle. Data integrity: report all relevant findings, including ones that don't support your hypothesis, and disclose any data exclusions with justification. Conflicts of interest: disclose funding sources and any relationship that could be perceived to bias the work. When in doubt, disclose. Under-disclosure is treated far more seriously by editorial teams than over-disclosure.