Reporting ethical processes: Survey of 'instructions to authors' provided by Indian journals.

摘要

Dear Sir,Ethical approval by an independent review board and written informed consent given by research participants are the two cornerstones of ethical research. A previous study has noted that only 30% of manuscripts published in 2 Indian pediatric journals have mentioned ethics committee approval (ECA), and only 47% of prospective study reports have indicated that informed consent (1C) was obtained. Because authors prepare manuscripts on the basis of guidelines provided by journals, we examined if Indian medical journals provide explicit guidelines to their contributors in this regard.