Ethical Concerns in Human or Animal Subjects | Journal of Applied Informatics and Technology

Research Integrity Policy

The Journal of Applied Informatics and Technology (JIT) strictly requires that all research involving human subjects, human biological materials, sensitive personal data, or animals comply with internationally recognized ethical standards and regulatory principles, including the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines, the Declaration of Helsinki for human research, and the ARRIVE guidelines (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments) for animal studies.

1. Ethics Committee Approval

Human Research: All manuscripts reporting research that involves human participants or human data must be reviewed and approved by an official Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Research Ethics Committee prior to conducting the study.
Animal Research: Studies involving live vertebrates or higher invertebrates must be reviewed and approved by an official Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) or equivalent animal ethics body before the research commences.
Submission Requirement: Authors must upload a copy of the official IRB or IACUC approval certificate during the submission process (if applicable) and explicitly state the committee name and approval protocol number within the manuscript.

2. Informed Consent, Welfare, and Data Privacy

Informed Consent (Human Subjects): Authors must obtain voluntary written informed consent from all participants or their legal guardians prior to data collection.
Privacy Protection: Authors must protect participant confidentiality. Personal or identifying information, such as names or facial photos, must not be published without explicit written consent.
Animal Welfare Principles: Animal research must adhere to the 3Rs principles (Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement). Experimental procedures must minimize pain, distress, and discomfort to animals, ensuring appropriate housing, feeding, and humane care.

3. Institutional Review Board Statement Guidelines & Examples

Authors must include an Institutional Review Board Statement (or Institutional Animal Care Statement) in their manuscript before the reference section, using one of the following templates:

Case 1: Studies with Human Ethical Approval

"This study was reviewed and approved by the Research Ethics Committee of [Institution Name] (Approval No. xxx/yyyy)."

(For computer/AI datasets): "This study was reviewed and approved by the Research Ethics Committee of [Institution Name] (Approval No. xxx/yyyy). The dataset was constructed from photographs of publicly visible textual content collected in natural environments and does not contain personal, sensitive, or identifiable information."

Case 2: Studies with Animal Ethical Approval

"The animal study protocol was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of [Institution Name] (Approval No. xxx/yyyy) for studies involving animals."

Case 3: Public or Non-identifiable Data

"Ethical review and approval were not required for this study because it utilized publicly available datasets containing no personal or identifiable information."

Case 4: Not Applicable

"Not applicable. This study did not involve human participants, human data, or animals."

Updated: November 2026