Browse our ethics policies:

Clinical trials policy

The journal will only consider submissions reporting clinical trials if the following conditions are met:

Trial Registration:

The clinical trial must be registered in a publicly accessible registry prior to the commencement of the trial or the enrollment of participants. Examples of recognized registries include those maintained by the WHO's International Clinical Trials Registry Platform and the US National Institutes of Health. When submitting your manuscript, you must provide the name of the trial registry and the corresponding clinical trial registration number.

Ethical Approval:

Authors must provide evidence that the trial received clearance from an appropriate institutional ethics committee or review board. Additional guidance on this requirement can be found in our section on informed consent.