Human and Animal Right Policy
Upholding human rights and animal rights forms the basis of our mission at International Journal of Pathology (IJP). Emphasizing protection of their individual rights and dignity, this human & animal rights policy details our pledge towards all those partaking in the journal's tasks. For true advancement, a culture of regard for individual liberties must exist.
For human participant studies, the study methodology must comply with the Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki). Research studies comprising human subjects must ensure that any identifiable markers such as patients' names, initials, hospital or social security numbers, x-rays, MRIs, images, videos, charts, etc, are removed unless consent is obtained not to do so in a specific instance. This distinction must be clearly outlined in the methods and/or acknowledgments section of the manuscript. For research articles involving indigenous human subjects, relevant consent must be obtained by local indigenous representatives.
For animal participants, the research must be conducted in accordance with the principles of the 3 R’s; reduction, refinement, and replacement. Researchers are responsible to reduce the number of animals used, refine experimental procedures to minimize animal suffering and replace animals with non-animal alternatives whenever possible.
- Responsibility for considering options (Replacement): Researchers must be able to account for the absence of options and the need to acquire knowledge immediately when justifying experiments on animals.
- Responsibility for considering reducing the number of animals (Reduction): Researchers must consider whether the reduction of number of animals the experiments plans to use are possible by conducting literature studies, considering alternative experiment designs and by performing design calculations before beginning experiments.
- Responsibility for minimizing the risk of suffering and improving animal welfare (Refinement): In consideration for animal welfare, researchers must not only consider the direct suffering that may be endured during the experiment itself, but also the risk of suffering before and after the experiment.
Research studies composed of animal subjects must adhere to the ARRIVE guidelines and comply with the U.S. Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and, as applicable, the Animal Welfare Act to ensure ethical and legal procedures are followed. The sex, age, species, and any additional relevant information of the animal subjects used must also be clearly stated in the Methods section of the manuscript.
