CHS Ethics Community

The Nile University has set up the College of Health Sciences Committee on to consider research proposals on human subjects with the following terms of reference.

 CONSIDERATION OF RESARCH PROPOSALS

The title must be clear and brief.

The aims and objectives of the research must be well spelt out and achievable.

Literature must be reviewed methodically, adequate and relevant to the study.

The methods of literature review and research must be clearly spelt out, current and adequate to meet the aims and objectives.

There must be institutional certification of the research proposal.

References must be adequate and comply with the format of the intended journal.

 CONSIDERATION OF AUTHORSHIP

An author is individual who has made a significant intellectual contribution to the study conception,   design and data acquisition, analysis, and interpretation.

An individual who is involved in drafting or revising the article for intellectual content.

Must be involved in the approval of the final version.

Must agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work.

 MUST COMPLY WITH ICMJE GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORSHIP

The guidelines are a set of guidelines produced by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors for standardizing the ethics, preparation and formatting of manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals for publication.

Order of authorship to be jointly decided.

Those who assist or provide research space and/or oversight should be acknowledged.

Financial support should be acknowledged.

Provide the list of clinicians and centers along with a statement of the individual contributions made in the case of large, multi-center trials.

Before the research begins, it is wise to convene a meeting to document how each person will be acknowledged.

MUST CONSIDER TRANSPARENCY AND OBJECTIVITY

Persons who could have competing interests: investigators, authors, editors, or reviewers

Issues that can cause conflicts of interest: financial, personal belief, competing  loyalties.

Financial relationships:

Direct – employment, stock ownership, grants, patents.

Indirect – honoraria, consultancies to sponsoring organizations, mutual fund ownership, paid expert testimony.

SHOULD LOOK INTO THE ISSUE OF PLAGIARISM

One author deliberately uses another’s work without permission, credit, or acknowledgment

May be in the form of data, words and phrases or ideas and concepts.

Must always remember to credit the words of others and even your previous publications appropriately.

 ENSURE THAT THERE IS NO FABRICATION AND FALSIFICATION

Fabrication: creating, inventing or faking data or results.

Falsification: manipulation of materials, equipment or processes; changing results or omitting some data or findings.

 MUST EXAMINE WRITING AND PUBLISHING ETHICS

Articles must be original and should make significant contribution to knowledge.

Authors should show their affiliation to an institution of higher learning.

Comments from the reviewers are meant to check on the quality of the paper by offering scholarly advice and input to it.

Authors must adhere to reviewers’ comments before resubmitting the manuscript to a journal.

Authors should give line by line response to comments by reviewers.

 MUST CONSIDER ETHICS OF RESEARCH ON HUMAN SUBJECTS

Anonymity: keep secrete the identity, tribe and religion of subjects. There must be anonymity of identifiers that can be linked back to participants.

Beneficence: explain the purpose and benefits of the research to the subject or the parent or guardian if subject is a child.

Truth: researcher should tell the truth, and not hide part of information to the subject.

Potential risks of the research must be explained to the subject (non-beneficence).

Participation must be voluntary, and with signed informed consent.

Justice: All individuals must be treated fairly.

In research, concern is with distributive justice,

i.e. distribution of benefits or burdens.

Research should not unduly involve persons from groups unlikely to be among the beneficiaries of subsequent applications of the research