All research published in JMCHS must meet international ethical standards and the laws and guidelines of the country where it was carried out.

Ethics approval

•     Research involving human participants, their data or biological samples must be approved by a registered institutional ethics committee (IEC/IRB) before data collection began, and must comply with the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki (current revision) and the CIOMS International Ethical Guidelines for Health-related Research Involving Humans.

•     India: ICMR National Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical and Health Research Involving Human Participants (2017); New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2019 where applicable.

•     Other South Asian countries: approval must come from the relevant national or institutional body, for example the Nepal Health Research Council, the Bangladesh Medical Research Council, the National Bioethics Committee of Pakistan, or the ethics review committees recognised in Sri Lanka, Bhutan, the Maldives and Afghanistan.

•     Multi-country studies need approval in each participating country.

•     State the committee name, approval number and date in the Methods (blinded during review) and in the Declarations.

Studies that may not need full review

Some studies may be exempt or eligible for expedited review — for example analyses of publicly available, fully anonymised datasets such as NFHS or DHS, or routine programme monitoring data with no identifiers. Authors must still state this, cite the dataset’s own ethics approval where available, and provide the exemption decision of an ethics committee when requested. The authors’ own judgement that a study is exempt is not sufficient for primary data collection.

Informed consent

•     Informed consent must be obtained from all participants in a language and form they understand, and the process described in the Methods.

•     Participants with limited literacy: consent may be documented by thumb impression with an impartial literate witness, or by audio/video recording where approved by the ethics committee, as permitted under ICMR guidelines.

•     Children and adolescents: consent from a parent or legal guardian, plus age-appropriate assent from the child. Specify the ages at which assent was obtained.

•     Community consent: for community-level studies and interventions, permission from community leaders or local bodies (e.g., gram panchayat) should be sought where culturally appropriate. Community permission does not replace individual consent.

•     Waivers of consent must be granted by the ethics committee and stated in the article, with the reason.

•     Online and telephone surveys: describe how consent was obtained and recorded.

Vulnerable populations

Additional protections are required for research involving pregnant women, children, tribal and marginalised communities, migrants, refugees, people in custody, sex workers, people who use drugs, and people with mental illness or cognitive impairment. Authors must describe these safeguards, including referral for participants found to need care (e.g., severe anaemia, severe acute malnutrition, suicidal ideation) and steps taken to avoid stigma or coercion. Compensation and incentives must be reasonable and must not act as undue inducement.

Research on sensitive topics

Studies on domestic and gender-based violence, sexual health, mental health, substance use or illegal activity must follow WHO ethical and safety recommendations for such research, including interviewer training, privacy during interviews, and access to support services.

Animal research

JMCHS rarely publishes animal studies. Any such research must have Institutional Animal Ethics Committee approval, comply with CCSEA (India) or equivalent national rules, and follow ARRIVE 2.0.

Verification

Editors may request approval letters, consent forms and study protocols at any stage. Manuscripts without adequate ethical approval or consent will be rejected, and published articles may be retracted. Concerns may be referred to the authors’ institution or ethics committee.