May 2004

Research Involving Human or Animal Subjects

Research involving experiments with human or animal subjects should conform to ethical standards outlined in the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. The relevant section is II.F., Protection of Human Subjects and Animals in Research. When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of the World Medical Association with all current revisions and amendments. When applicable, institutional review board approval should be indicated in the manuscript. Also, the manuscript should describe the manner in which informed consent was obtained from any human subjects. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether the institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed.