Publication Ethics and Malpractice
Journal of Medical Internet Research is a member of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) and JMIR Publications is in the process of converting its journal-level COPE membership into a publisher-level membership for JMIR Publications journals. The entire publication process from submission, review, to publication in all JMIR publications, adheres to the COPE guidelines, and suspected cases of misconduct will be investigated using COPE Flowcharts. Authors are expected to review COPE guidelines to ensure their studies and publications adhere to guidance therein. In addition, all JMIR journals adhere to the guidelines stated in the WMA Helsinki Declaration. Authors may also refer to this discussion regarding ethical issues in qualitative research on the Internet.
JMIR Publications also provides guidance on authorship, retractions, corrections, and publishing malpractices (such as misconduct). For more information on JMIR Publications' ethics policies, please visit our Knowledge Base (KB), here.
Research Using Human Subjects
All JMIR journals require that all studies on human subjects have approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) or equivalent body. IRB approval/exemption along with gender and age of all subjects should be clearly stated in all papers involving studies on humans and/or uploaded as supplementary material. The editors reserve the right to request such documentation.
Similarly, authors must acknowledge that informed consent was obtained for studies on humans after the nature and possible consequences of the studies are explained. All JMIR journals require authors to provide a statement that informed consent was obtained from participants in any research involving human subjects. In all JMIR journals, authors of manuscripts describing studies of internet and digital tools and technologies are required to verify that they complied with informed consent guidelines when necessary and have adhered to local, national, regional, and international law and regulations regarding protection of personal information, privacy, and human rights.
Research with Animal Subjects
When reporting experiments on animals, authors must provide a statement that institutional and national guidance for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.