Ethical Oversight Policy

Journal of Accounting and Management (JAM)  |  e-ISSN 3048-345X

1. Scope

This policy applies to research involving human participants, personal or sensitive information, employees, customers, organizations, communities, vulnerable groups, confidential business records, interventions, online data, and—as applicable—animals, environmental impacts, or culturally sensitive materials. It complements but does not duplicate Publication Ethics or Research Data policies.

2. Ethics Approval or Exemption

• Authors must obtain approval from a recognized ethics committee or institutional review board before research begins when required by law, institution, funder, discipline, or risk level.
• The manuscript must identify the approving body, approval number, and date, or state and justify a documented exemption/waiver.
• Retrospective approval is not normally acceptable for research that required prior review.
• Editors may request approval letters, protocols, consent forms, permissions, risk assessments, or institutional confirmation.
• Ethics approval does not by itself guarantee publication; JAM independently assesses reporting, consent, privacy, and scholarly integrity.

3. Informed Consent and Participant Rights

• Participation must be voluntary and based on understandable information about purpose, procedures, risks, benefits, data use, withdrawal, and contacts.
• Consent must be documented in a form appropriate to the study and legal context; justified waivers must be approved by a competent body.
• Publication of identifiable information, images, quotations, case details, or organizationally sensitive material requires specific publication consent when applicable.
• Coercion, undue inducement, deception without approved justification, and retaliation are prohibited.
• Additional safeguards are required for children, dependent persons, employees, students, marginalized groups, and persons with limited decision-making capacity.

4. Privacy, Confidentiality, and Organizational Data

• Collect only data necessary for the stated purpose and apply appropriate de-identification, access controls, retention, and secure transfer.
• Do not assume public availability eliminates privacy, consent, platform-term, or contextual-integrity obligations for online data.
• Confidential company, employee, customer, financial, audit, tax, or government information must be used under lawful authority and reported without unauthorized disclosure.
• Anonymization claims must be realistic; indirect identifiers and small samples may create re-identification risk.
• Legal or contractual restrictions should be described in the Data Availability Statement without making unsupported confidentiality claims.

5. Research Integrity and Risk–Benefit Proportionality

• Methods must minimize physical, psychological, social, economic, reputational, legal, and informational risks.
• Research must not discriminate unfairly, exploit communities, or expose participants and organizations to avoidable harm.
• Conflicts, funding, sponsor roles, incentives, and researcher relationships must be disclosed.
• Community, cultural, Indigenous, local, or professional norms should be respected where relevant, alongside formal approval.
• Use of AI, biometric systems, surveillance, or automated decision tools requires attention to bias, explainability, privacy, and possible downstream harm.

6. Reporting Requirements

The Methods and declarations should state the ethics body and approval/waiver, consent procedure, recruitment, risk safeguards, privacy controls, compensation, data management, conflicts, funding, trial/registration information when applicable, and reporting guideline used. Authors must explain any material protocol deviation.

7. Editorial Assessment

8. Misconduct and Post-Publication Concerns

Fabricated approval, absent required consent, serious participant harm, privacy breach, unethical design, or misrepresentation may lead to rejection, referral, correction, Expression of Concern, or retraction. JAM will protect confidential information while giving affected parties appropriate due process.

9. Related Policies