Ethical Considerations in Articles Published in Nursing Journals*

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify the presence/absence of ethical considerations in the published articles of nursing journals. Methods: The ethical considerations of 331 articles published in six nursing journals having ethical considerations in their “instructions for authors” were examined. The following ethical considerations were reviewed: compliance with the Helsinki Declaration, approval of an independent ethical review committee (IRB), informed consent, protection of privacy and confidentiality, and the notification of conflicts of interest. Results: Two hundred and seventy three of 331 (82.2%) articles had at least one ethical consideration, the most common of which was obtaining informed consent (80.1%). However, none of the articles included compliance with the Helsinki Declaration, and only 15.7% of the articles included obtaining written informed consent. The articles written in English showed more ethical considerations than those written in Korean in the aspects of IRB approval (p<0.0001) and obtaining written informed consent (p=0.050). For research methodology, qualitative studies had more ethical considerations than experimental studies or surveys in terms of protecting privacy and confidentiality (p=0.022) and obtaining written informed consent (p=0.011). Conclusion: The ethical considerations in the articles published in the nursing journals examined did not fully reflect the ethical considerations listed in the journals’ instructions for authors. This study suggests that editors should pay greater attention in determining whether or not articles published in their journals follow the ethical considerations in their instructions for authors.