Human & Animal research

Human research 

If human subjects were used in the experiments, authors should identify the committee or organization (e.g., authors’ Institutional Ethics Review Board) approving the experiments during the submitting process, which should also detail ethics approval information such as the name of the granting committee or organization and the approval identifiers, i.e., reference numbers. This journal requires that authors provide a proof of research ethics or ethics statement along with the submission. In the case that ethics approval identifiers are not available, written approval from the granting committee or organization must be provided as a confidential supplemental file.

Authors should confirm that experiments were carried out in adherence to the ethical principles set out in the WMA Declaration of Helsinki and that informed consent was obtained from all human subjects. 

For investigations undertaken on human subjects, the manner in which the informed consent statement was obtained from the study participants (i.e., oral or written) should be stated clearly as well.

Authors should inform study participants of the purpose(s) of publication, the possible risks and benefits as a result of the experiment, and patients' right to withhold or withdraw consent. 

If a study participant is a minor, consent should be obtained from his/her parent(s) or legal guardian(s).

Authors are obliged to declare and clearly specify any restrictions on the availability or the use of human data in the manuscript.

Authors are encouraged to follow the CARE guidelines while reporting a clinical case that involves human subjects. If the article reporting guidelines suggested by Applied Psychology Research (APR) were not pertinent to your work, please look for and refer to the appropriate reporting standards as found on EQUATOR Network, which have been adopted by the field of the works or which apply to their study design.

Animal research

For studies reporting experiments that involve testing on regulated animals (i.e., all live vertebrates and/or higher invertebrates), authors should identify the committee or organization (e.g., authors’ Institutional Ethics Review Board) during the submitting section of the manuscript, which should also detail ethics approval information such as the name of the granting committee or organization and the approval identifiers, i.e., reference numbers. For research conducted on non-regulated animals, a statement should be made as to why ethical approval was not required.

Authors are encouraged to follow the ARRIVE guidelines while reporting animal research. 

Experiments on non-human primates should be performed in accordance with the recommendations set out in the Weatherall report (The Use of Non-Human Primates in Research).