Why authors of research papers must provide evidence of ethical research practice

In a recent editorial Cornock and Rees describe the ethics requirements necessary for academic publication. Briefly these are i) review by a Research Ethics Committee (REC) (or an equivalent Institutional Review Board (IRB)), and ii) evidence of participant consent. They rightly base their requirements on international documents such as the Nuremberg Code, Declaration of Helsinki, and the Belmont report. The Belmont report in particular is helpful because it goes on to introduce the specific ethics principles that must be considered when conducting research. Journals play an important role by providing a platform that authors can use to demonstrate that these ethics principles have been met.