The Employee Relations Law Journal (Empl. Relat. Law J.) is committed to protecting the rights, dignity, privacy, safety, and welfare of human participants and animals involved in research. The journal expects all research submitted for publication to comply with applicable ethical, legal, institutional, and professional standards.

The journal follows relevant principles and guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) concerning the ethical conduct, reporting, and publication of research involving human participants and animals.

Research Involving Human Participants

Authors conducting research involving human participants must ensure that the research is designed, conducted, and reported in accordance with recognized ethical principles and applicable institutional, national, and international requirements.

Where required, research must receive prior approval from an appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB), Research Ethics Committee, or equivalent independent review body. Authors should provide details of the relevant ethical approval in the manuscript and must be prepared to provide supporting documentation if requested by the Editor.

Informed Consent

Appropriate informed consent must be obtained from human participants where required. Participants should be adequately informed about the nature and purpose of the research, their involvement, relevant risks and benefits, and their rights.

Where identifiable information, photographs, case details, or other identifying material is intended for publication, appropriate written consent for publication should be obtained where required. Identifying information should be omitted whenever it is not essential to the scientific or scholarly purpose of the publication.

Privacy and Confidentiality

The privacy and confidentiality of research participants must be protected. Authors must not disclose names, initials, identification numbers, or other unnecessary identifying information.

Where participant information is essential for scholarly purposes, authors must ensure that appropriate consent and ethical safeguards are in place before publication.

Vulnerable Participants

Research involving vulnerable individuals or groups requires particular attention to informed consent, privacy, dignity, safety, and protection from exploitation or harm. Authors should demonstrate that appropriate safeguards and ethical oversight were implemented where applicable.

Research Involving Animals

Where a manuscript reports research involving animals, authors must ensure that the research complies with applicable institutional, national, and regulatory requirements concerning the care and use of animals.

Authors should clearly state whether appropriate institutional and national standards for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed. Research involving animals should be scientifically justified and conducted in a manner that minimizes unnecessary pain, suffering, distress, or harm.

Ethical Approval and Documentation

The Editorial Office may request evidence of ethical approval, informed consent, institutional authorization, or other relevant documentation when necessary to assess compliance with research ethics requirements.

Approval by an ethics committee or institutional review body does not prevent the journal from independently assessing whether the reported research appears ethically appropriate.

Ethical Concerns and Right to Reject

The Employee Relations Law Journal reserves the right to reject a manuscript where there are reasonable grounds to believe that research involving humans or animals was conducted unethically, without required approval or consent, or in violation of applicable ethical or legal requirements.

Where ethical concerns arise after publication, the journal may take appropriate action, including correction, expression of concern, or retraction, depending on the nature and seriousness of the concern.

Commitment to Ethical Standards

Authors, Editors, and Reviewers are expected to cooperate in protecting human rights, participant confidentiality, animal welfare, and the integrity of the scholarly record. The journal may update this policy in response to developments in ethical standards, applicable regulations, and recognized guidance from organizations such as COPE and ICMJE.