Reporting ethics approval and informed consent of in vivo researches in dental journals

C. T. Preoteasa, M. C. Buzea, M. Imre, C. R. Ranga, E. Preoteasa

Abstract: Aim. To assess reporting of ethics approval and patient consent for in vivo researches published in dental journals. Method. Nine journals from the category “Dentistry, oral surgery & medicine” (Journal Citation Reports) were randomly selected using a systematic sampling technique. Only manuscripts reporting in vivo researches from the 1st issue from 2018 volume of selected journals were analyzed. Results. Ninety six manuscripts were assessed. Ethics approval was mentioned in 69,8%, frequently with an identifier, it being usually obtained from an ethics committee associated to an university Informed consent was usually stated to be obtained (60% of human studies), usually as written signed forms. There was noticed a similar behavior to obtain or not both research ethics approval and informed consent. Ethics research was better reported in experiments than observational studies, and in journals with a higher Impact Factor. Conclusions. Ethics approval and patient’s informed consent are generally well reported in the “top” dental journals. For improvements, additional training of the researches, requesting these data at manuscript submission, and inquirements of the journals’ editors when missing would be beneficial. Better standardization on reporting them, as key information required and language used, is also recommended
Keywords: research ethics, ethical approval, ethics committee, dentistry, oral medicine.