Informed consent

Informed Consent, Data Protection and Privacy

Fiziol Zh adheres to internationally accepted standards of research ethics and publication integrity in studies involving human participants.

Informed consent

For all research involving human subjects, authors must obtain freely given, informed consent from participants (or their parent or legal guardian in the case of minors or legally incapacitated persons). A statement confirming informed consent must be included in the manuscript.

Identifiable personal data (including names, images, biometric or genetic information, and other identifying characteristics) must not be published unless it is essential for scientific purposes and explicit written consent for publication has been obtained. If there is any doubt regarding identifiability, informed consent for publication is required.

Consent to publish

Consent to participate in a study does not automatically imply consent to publish personal data. Authors must ensure that participants have also consented to the publication of their data, particularly in case reports or studies involving vulnerable populations.

Anonymity and use of images

Authors should take all reasonable steps to protect participant anonymity. Masking or partial anonymization (for example, covering eyes in photographs) may be insufficient. If data or images are anonymized, authors must ensure that anonymization does not distort scientific meaning.

Certain types of images (such as X-rays, ultrasound images, or pathology slides) may not require consent provided that no identifying information is present.

Data protection and confidentiality

Authors must comply with applicable data protection and privacy regulations. Participants should be informed about what data are collected, how they will be used, and for what purpose. When using data or biological material from biobanks or repositories, authors must ensure that such use complies with the consent provided and relevant institutional policies.

Ethical declarations

All manuscripts involving human subjects must include an appropriate statement in a “Declarations” section before the references, addressing ethics approval (where applicable), informed consent to participate, consent to publish (if applicable), data availability, conflicts of interest, funding, and authors’ contributions.

Failure to comply with these requirements may result in rejection of the manuscript.