Ethical Clearance Policy

Tawazun: Jurnal Pendidikan Islam is committed to maintaining academic integrity and ensuring that all published research complies with established ethical principles. Any research involving human participants must respect the principles of human dignity, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, confidentiality, and protection of participants' rights.

Ethical clearance refers to formal approval issued by an authorized research ethics committee or institution following an ethical review of a research project. Such approval is intended to ensure that the planning, implementation, data collection, and reporting of research appropriately protect the rights, privacy, safety, and well-being of research participants.

  1. Research Requiring Ethical Clearance

Authors must obtain ethical clearance before conducting the research when the study involves human participants and presents ethical considerations that require review by an ethics committee.

This requirement particularly applies to research that:

  1. involves students, university students, teachers, educational staff, parents, or members of the community as research participants;
  2. uses interviews, observations, questionnaires, tests, experiments, or interventions as data collection methods;
  3. collects personal data, identifying information, audio/video recordings, photographs, or other information that may identify participants;
  4. involves children or other vulnerable groups;
  5. involves interventions or procedures that may pose physical, psychological, social, or academic risks;
  6. uses sensitive or personally identifiable information; or
  7. is determined by the researcher's institution or an ethics committee to require ethical review.

For research involving children or minors, authors must obtain parental or legal guardian consent and, where appropriate, participant assent, in accordance with the requirements of the relevant ethics committee and applicable regulations.

  1. Research Generally Not Requiring Ethical Clearance

Ethical clearance is generally not required for research that does not involve human participants, including:

  • library research;
  • conceptual research;
  • theoretical studies;
  • systematic literature reviews using publicly available sources;
  • analysis of publicly available documents;
  • analysis of books or scholarly works that are publicly accessible; and
  • other research that does not involve the collection of data directly from human participants.

Although ethical clearance may not be required, authors must still comply with principles of academic integrity, proper attribution, copyright, data protection, and publication ethics.

  1. Ethical Clearance from an Authorized Institution

Ethical clearance must be obtained from an independent and authorized research ethics committee, according to the type of research and the policies of the institution where the research is conducted.

For research within the scope of health research and development, authors must comply with the requirements of the relevant health research ethics committee. In Indonesia, the National Ethics Committee for Health Research and Development (KEPPKN/KEPKN) is responsible for supporting the development and accreditation of health research ethics committees, while the Ministry of Health provides national guidelines on ethics in health research and development.

For educational research, authors may obtain ethical approval from the research ethics committee of their university or authorized research institution, in accordance with the institution's policies.

  1. Ethical Clearance Statement in the Manuscript

Authors whose research requires ethical clearance must include information regarding ethical approval in the Methods section of the manuscript.

The statement should, at minimum, include:

  • the name of the committee or institution granting ethical approval;
  • the ethical approval number;
  • the date or year of approval, where available; and
  • other relevant information concerning ethical approval.

Example:

Ethical Approval: This study received ethical approval from the Research Ethics Committee of [Institution Name] under approval number [XXX], dated [date].

  1. Informed Consent

Ethical clearance does not replace informed consent.

Authors remain responsible for obtaining informed consent from participants before data collection, as appropriate to the nature of the research and the requirements of the relevant ethics committee.

Informed consent should, at a minimum, explain:

  1. the purpose of the research;
  2. the research procedures;
  3. the expected involvement of participants;
  4. potential benefits and risks;
  5. measures for maintaining data confidentiality;
  6. participants' right to refuse or withdraw from participation; and
  7. how the data will be used for research and publication purposes.

For participants who are minors, parental or legal guardian consent must be obtained in accordance with applicable requirements.

  1. Confidentiality and Data Protection

Authors must protect the identity and confidentiality of research participants. Names, addresses, identification numbers, photographs, recordings, or other information that could identify participants must not be published without an appropriate ethical basis and consent.

Research data must be collected, stored, analyzed, and used in accordance with the purpose of the study and applicable data protection requirements.

If identifying information is scientifically necessary, authors must ensure that publication of such information has received appropriate consent from the participant or authorized party.

  1. Research Using Secondary Data

Research using secondary data must clearly explain the source of the data, data access status, and basis for using the data.

If secondary data contain personal or identifiable information, authors must ensure that the use of such data has received the necessary permission and/or ethical approval in accordance with applicable requirements.

  1. Evidence of Ethical Clearance

Tawazun: Jurnal Pendidikan Islam reserves the right to request evidence of ethical clearance, informed consent, or other supporting documentation at any stage of the editorial process.

Authors must be able to provide such documentation upon request by the editors.

Failure to provide evidence of ethical approval when such approval should have been obtained may lead the editors to:

  • request clarification from the authors;
  • request additional documentation;
  • suspend the editorial process;
  • reject the manuscript; or
  • conduct an ethics investigation where there are indications of ethical misconduct.
  1. Statement for Research Not Requiring Ethical Clearance

If a study does not involve human participants and does not require ethical clearance, authors may include the following statement:

Ethical Approval: Ethical approval was not required for this study because it did not involve human participants or the collection of personally identifiable information.

This statement should be used only when it accurately reflects the nature of the research and the policies of the author's institution.

  1. Authors' Responsibilities

Authors are fully responsible for:

  • determining whether their research requires ethical clearance;
  • obtaining ethical approval before commencing the research when required;
  • obtaining informed consent from research participants;
  • protecting the confidentiality and security of research data;
  • transparently reporting the ethical procedures followed in the study; and
  • providing evidence of ethical approval when requested by the editors.

Tawazun: Jurnal Pendidikan Islam does not consider the inclusion of an ethical approval number alone to be sufficient evidence that all aspects of the research process complied with ethical principles. Editors retain the authority to assess ethical compliance based on the information provided in the manuscript and supporting documentation.

Policy References

This policy may refer to the following guidelines and standards:

  1. ICMJE Recommendations, particularly the section on Protection of Research Participants, which emphasizes approval by an independent ethics review body for research involving human participants.
  2. National Guidelines and Standards for Ethics in Health Research and Development, Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia.
  3. Regulation of the Minister of Health of the Republic of Indonesia No. 75 of 2020 concerning the National Ethics Committee for Health Research and Development.

This policy is intended to ensure that research published in Tawazun: Jurnal Pendidikan Islam upholds research integrity, respect for human participants, transparency, confidentiality, and responsible scholarly conduct.