Research Ethics

  1. Purpose and Scope

AMG Transcend Association requires research published in its journals to be conducted in accordance with recognized ethical principles, applicable legal and regulatory requirements, and appropriate standards of responsible research conduct.

This policy establishes publisher-level requirements for the ethical conduct and reporting of research across the AMG Transcend Association journal portfolio.

More detailed requirements concerning research involving humans, animals, informed consent, ethical approval, clinical trials, data integrity, and related matters are addressed in the applicable publisher and journal policies.

  1. General Ethical Requirements

Authors must ensure that research has been designed, conducted, analyzed, and reported responsibly and with appropriate regard for the rights, welfare, safety, dignity, privacy, and legitimate interests of individuals, communities, animals, and other subjects affected by the research.

Research must comply with ethical, institutional, legal, and regulatory requirements applicable to the location, subject matter, and type of study.

Where formal ethical review, institutional approval, regulatory authorization, permission, or another form of oversight is required, it must be obtained from an appropriately authorized body before the relevant research activity begins.

The absence of a formal approval requirement does not remove the authors’ responsibility to conduct research ethically and in accordance with applicable standards.

  1. Ethical Approval, Permissions, and Authorizations

Authors are responsible for determining which ethical approvals, permissions, permits, or authorizations apply to their research and for obtaining them when required.

Required approval must normally be obtained prospectively. Research that required prior ethical or regulatory approval must not be represented as compliant solely on the basis of approval obtained retrospectively after the research was conducted.

Where an exemption, waiver, or determination that formal ethical approval was not required applies, authors must be able to explain the basis for that determination and provide supporting information where reasonably requested by the journal.

Research must be conducted in accordance with the approved protocol and applicable conditions of approval. Material deviations or amendments must receive additional authorization where required.

  1. Research Involving Humans or Animals

Research involving human participants, identifiable human data, human biological material, or animals is subject to additional ethical requirements.

Such research must receive appropriate ethical review and approval where required and must comply with applicable standards concerning participant protection, informed consent, privacy, confidentiality, animal welfare, and ethical oversight.

AMG Transcend Association maintains separate Human and Animal Research Ethics and Informed Consent and Clinical Trials policies containing the more detailed requirements applicable to these forms of research.

  1. Other Research Requiring Ethical or Regulatory Oversight

Research not involving humans or animals may nevertheless require institutional, legal, regulatory, environmental, safety, or other authorization.

Where applicable, authors must comply with requirements governing matters such as:

  • collection or use of biological or environmental materials;
  • field sampling and access to protected or restricted locations;
  • use, transport, import, export, or transfer of regulated materials;
  • biosafety or biosecurity;
  • hazardous biological, chemical, or other research materials;
  • use of protected species, genetic resources, or other regulated resources;
  • access to confidential, proprietary, or restricted datasets; and
  • other activities subject to permits, licenses, institutional oversight, or regulatory control.

Authors must not state or imply that required permissions were obtained when they were not.

  1. Ethical Study Design and Conduct

Ethical responsibility extends beyond formal approval.

Research must be designed and conducted in a manner that is scientifically and ethically justified. Where research exposes participants, animals, communities, researchers, or the environment to potential harm, risks must be appropriately considered, minimized, and managed.

A formal approval does not prevent editors from considering whether the conduct or reporting of a study raises significant ethical concerns.

Authors remain responsible for compliance with the approved research procedures and for transparently reporting ethically relevant aspects of the study.

  1. Privacy, Confidentiality, and Sensitive Information

Research involving personal, confidential, sensitive, or restricted information must be conducted in accordance with applicable ethical, legal, institutional, and data-protection requirements.

Authors must take appropriate measures to protect confidentiality and prevent unauthorized disclosure of identifiable or sensitive information.

Publication of identifiable information may require additional consent or authorization beyond consent to participate in the research.

Detailed requirements concerning human participants, informed consent, and publication of identifiable information are addressed in the applicable specialized policies.

  1. Responsibilities of Authors

Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of statements concerning the ethical conduct of their research.

Where applicable, manuscripts must accurately report relevant information concerning:

  • ethical review and approval;
  • the approving body;
  • approval or reference information;
  • informed consent;
  • waivers or exemptions;
  • animal welfare oversight;
  • clinical-trial registration;
  • regulatory or institutional permissions;
  • relevant permits or authorizations; and
  • other ethical safeguards required for the research.

Authors must not fabricate, alter, misrepresent, or omit material information concerning ethical approval or compliance.

Authors must retain appropriate supporting documentation and provide reasonable clarification or evidence when legitimately requested during editorial assessment, peer review, or investigation of a subsequent concern.

  1. Responsibilities of the Journals and Editors

AMG Transcend Association journals must assess research-ethics compliance as part of the editorial process where relevant to the submitted work.

Editors may request:

  • clarification of ethical statements;
  • copies or evidence of ethics approvals or determinations;
  • explanations concerning exemptions or waivers;
  • documentation concerning consent or permissions;
  • information concerning protocol amendments;
  • evidence of applicable permits or authorizations; or
  • additional information necessary to evaluate a specific ethical concern.

Editors may seek independent expert advice where the available information does not permit an adequate assessment.

The existence of an approval document does not require a journal to publish research where substantial unresolved ethical concerns remain.

  1. Inadequate or Missing Ethical Approval

Where research required prior ethical approval or another mandatory authorization and the authors cannot demonstrate that it was appropriately obtained, the manuscript may be unsuitable for publication.

Editors must consider the nature of the requirement, the circumstances of the research, the available documentation, the seriousness of the deficiency, and its implications for participants, animals, research integrity, and the scholarly record.

A missing approval statement in a manuscript may be correctable where the required approval was in fact obtained.

By contrast, failure to obtain approval that was required before the research commenced may constitute a substantive ethical concern and must not be treated merely as a reporting omission.

  1. Ethical Concerns Identified During Editorial Review

Where an ethical concern is identified before publication, the journal may:

  • request clarification or additional documentation;
  • pause editorial processing while the matter is assessed;
  • seek independent ethical or scientific advice;
  • request appropriate correction or additional reporting;
  • reject the manuscript where ethical requirements were not satisfied or compliance cannot reasonably be established; or
  • refer a serious matter to an institution, ethics body, regulator, or other appropriate authority where necessary.

An allegation or uncertainty must not automatically be treated as established misconduct.

Editorial responses must be fair, evidence-based, and proportionate to the nature and seriousness of the concern.

  1. Ethical Concerns Identified After Publication

Credible ethical concerns identified after publication must be assessed even when the research successfully completed peer review before publication.

Authors may be asked to provide relevant documentation, explanations, or supporting evidence.

Depending on the findings and their effect on the reliability, legality, ethical acceptability, or transparency of the published research, the journal may take appropriate post-publication action.

Such action may include clarification, correction, expression of concern, retraction, or another measure necessary to maintain an accurate and responsible scholarly record.

Detailed post-publication procedures are addressed in the Corrections, Retractions and Expressions of Concern policy.

  1. Relationship with Research Integrity

Research ethics and research integrity are closely related but are not interchangeable.

Ethical approval does not by itself establish that research data, analyses, images, authorship, or reporting are reliable. Conversely, technically accurate research may still raise serious ethical concerns if it was conducted without required protections, approvals, consent, or authorization.

Questions concerning fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, data or image manipulation, peer-review manipulation, authorship misconduct, and related publication-integrity matters are addressed under the Publication Ethics and Research Integrity and other applicable policies.

  1. Relationship with Other Policies

This policy should be read together with applicable AMG Transcend Association and journal policies concerning:

  • Human and Animal Research Ethics;
  • Informed Consent and Clinical Trials;
  • Publication Ethics and Research Integrity;
  • Data Integrity and Reproducibility;
  • Authorship and Contributor Responsibilities;
  • Conflict of Interest and Competing Interests;
  • AI and Generative Tools; and
  • Corrections, Retractions and Expressions of Concern.

Journal-specific policies may establish additional ethical requirements appropriate to the research disciplines and types of studies considered by the journal.