Research Ethics Policy

Human Subject Research

Ethical Approval- For any study involving human subjects or samples, authors should provide an Ethical Approval statement in the Declarations part of their manuscripts to state that the study is approved by an institutional ethics committee and complies with the Declaration of Helsinki. The researchers must have conducted the study according to the approved protocol and acceptable research standards.

Consent to Participate- For any study involving human subjects, written informed consent to participate should be obtained from the participants. Authors should provide a statement to attest that they have received and archived the written consent, and such consent can be available if requested.

Consent to Publication- For manuscripts involving privacy issues, e.g., showing the individual details in images or videos, authors must obtain the consent to publication from the participants. Authors should provide a statement to attest that they have received and archived the written consent, and such consent can be available if requested.

Clinical Trials Registration

The journal follow the clinical trial guidelines defined by International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). The journal requires registration of all clinical trials.

According to the policy set by the ICMJE, clinical trials must be registered with a public trials registry before enrolling the first patient. ICMJE defines clinical trials as research projects that prospectively assign individuals or groups to interventions, with or without comparison or control groups, to investigate the cause-and-effect relationship between a health-related intervention and a health outcome. Such interventions include drugs, surgical procedures, devices, behavioral treatments, educational programs, dietary interventions, quality improvement initiatives, and changes in care processes.

The Journal of Phytopharmacology mandates that all clinical trials be registered with databases accessible to the public at no cost, open to all prospective registrants, managed by nonprofit organizations, have mechanisms to ensure the validity of registration data, and be electronically searchable. When submitting manuscripts, authors must include the unique registration number in the abstract as proof of registration, along with the name of the registration database. 

TJP accepts registrations from specific clinical trial registries, in addition to those listed on the ICMJE website. These include:

•  Clinical Trials Registry - India (CTRI)
•  Clinical Trials
•  Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry
•  ISRCTN Register
•  UMIN Clinical Trials Registry

Authors reporting on randomized clinical trials are required to adhere to the published CONSORT guidelines. The recommended CONSORT checklist must be completed and submitted to the journal along with the manuscript. Additionally, authors should include the recommended trial flow diagram as a figure. These requirements ensure that clinical trial reporting in TJP aligns with best practices, promoting transparency and accuracy in research dissemination. For further details or inquiries regarding these guidelines, authors are encouraged to contact the editorial office.

Animal Research

Any research involving animals should be approved by an animal care and use committee and conducted according to the approved protocol and acceptable research standards for animal experimentation. Authors should provide an ethical statement at the end of their manuscripts to state that the study was approved by certain animal care and use committee. The EU Directive 2010/63/EU guidelines for animal experiments will be followed.