Ethical Clearance and Research Ethics Policy

The International Journal of Research and Community Empowerment (IJoRCE) requires research involving human participants, animals, personal information, or other ethically sensitive subjects to be conducted in accordance with applicable ethical principles, institutional requirements, and relevant regulations.

Ethical Approval

Research involving human participants and/or animals must obtain appropriate ethical approval from a recognized Institutional Review Board, Research Ethics Committee, Ethics Committee, or other authorized body, where such approval is required.

Authors must clearly report the relevant ethical approval information in the manuscript, including the name of the approving institution or ethics committee and the ethical approval or clearance number (including the year of approval).

Low and Negligible Risk Research

For research classified as low or negligible risk where formal Ethical Clearance is not required under applicable institutional or regulatory provisions, authors may provide an ethical self-declaration explaining why formal ethical approval was not required and describing the ethical safeguards applied.

For low or negligible risk research conducted in schools or classroom settings, appropriate permission or authorization from the school may be accepted as sufficient institutional approval where formal Ethical Clearance is not required.

Such research must nevertheless ensure appropriate protection of participants, including voluntary participation, consent where applicable, privacy, and confidentiality.

Ethical Considerations in the Manuscript

Where applicable, Ethical Clearance or ethical self-declaration information should be reported in the Methods section, preferably under Ethical Considerations.

For low or negligible risk school- or classroom-based research, an appropriate statement may be:

The authors declare that this study was classified as low or negligible risk and did not require formal Ethical Clearance under the applicable institutional requirements. Permission to conduct the research was obtained from the relevant school, and appropriate ethical safeguards, including voluntary participation, consent where applicable, and protection of participant confidentiality, were implemented.

Authors must adapt the statement to accurately reflect the circumstances of their research.

Consent, Privacy, and Identifiable Materials

Where applicable, authors must obtain appropriate informed consent, permission, or authorization and protect participant privacy, confidentiality, and other relevant rights.

For photographs, videos, personal information, or other identifiable materials, appropriate consent or permission must be obtained where required. When identification is not necessary for the scholarly purpose of the manuscript, identifiable features should be appropriately anonymized or obscured, for example by blurring faces, masking names or identification numbers, or cropping images.

Any modification for privacy protection must not alter or misrepresent information relevant to the scholarly or scientific interpretation of the material.

Author and Editorial Responsibility

Every manuscript must comply with the Declaration of Ethics in the official IJoRCE Manuscript Template 2026 and the ethical provisions of the Statement of Manuscript Authenticity.

Authors remain responsible for the accuracy and authenticity of all ethical declarations and approvals. IJoRCE may request evidence of Ethical Clearance, institutional or school permission, informed consent, ethical self-declaration, or other relevant documentation when necessary.

Manuscripts with inadequate ethical information may be returned for clarification, suspended from editorial processing, or rejected. Ethical concerns identified after publication will be handled in accordance with the IJoRCE Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement.