Ethical Issues and Considerations
If human subjects are involved, informed consent, protection of privacy, and other human rights are further criteria against which the manuscript will be judged. Papers that describe investigations on human subjects must include a statement that the study was approved by the institutional review board (IRB), in accordance with all applicable regulations, and that informed consent was obtained after the nature and possible consequences of the studies were explained. In addition, as mentioned in our Conflict of Interest article, we will ask authors to disclose any competing interests in relation to their work.