Considering the importance of observing ethical principles and standards in biomedical research, the World Health Organization in 1995 (in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) decided that the national ethics committees in biological science research in all countries of the region should approve and implement the national code of ethics in medical science research.
Based on this, the Research Ethics Committee of Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences started working in 2000 in the Deputy of Research and Technology and has been registered since 2018 in the National System of Ethics in Biomedical Research. It now issues ethics codes in research in this system.
This working group has continued its work since 2020 by the Ministerial Working Group on Ethics in Research under the title of Working Group on Ethics in Regional Research with 12 members and two sub-committees, including Research Ethics Committee of the School of Medicine with 11 members since 2021 (it is responsible for the ethical review and issuance of approval and ethics codes for the dissertations of medical assistant courses, general doctorate in medicine and dentistry, and master's degree in the fields related to the School of Medicine) and the ethics committee working with laboratory animals with seven members from 2021 (this committee is responsible for ethical review and issuance of approval and ethics codes for animal studies).
It has always taken practical steps to improve the level of ethics in university research.
The primary duties of this working group include: Issuing approval and ethics codes for all research projects, technological projects, and student theses, preventing and combating fraud in the preparation of scientific works, ethical supervision of conducting research projects, technological projects, and student theses, monitoring the standardization of laboratory animal breeding and rearing centers, holding workshops to empower academic staff members, students, and researchers on ethics in research, reviewing the documentation of Article 3 of academic staff members according to the ethics guidelines in research, handling research violations and informing all relevant policies, bylaws, and circulars.
This working group tries to institutionalize the principles and standards of ethics in research among faculty members, researchers, and students and strives to promote this culture.
Given the quantitative and qualitative improvement of research and technology in health and emphasis on compliance with Sharia, legal and ethical standards in research and technology studies, the Research Ethics Work Team of Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences was registered in the National System of Ethics in Biotechnology Research in 2017, and after the approval of the Ministerial Research Ethics Work Team, it started to work in order to improve the level of ethics in research conducted in the University with 12 members and has been performing the tasks assigned by the Ministerial Research Ethics Work Team.
This Work Team includes two subcommittees, namely, Ethics Committee of Faculty of Medicine and Ethics Committee for Working with Laboratory Animals, which were accredited by the Ministerial Research Ethics Work Team and started to work in the early 2022.
The members of the Subcommittees are approved by the respective Ministry according to the instructions on how to form the research ethics work teams and committees and their activities and attend the relevant meetings.
The Work Team and the Subcommittees issue approval and ethics ID for research projects, theses and case reports after tactful examination in accordance with research ethics standards.
As well, the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine and the Committee on Working with Laboratory Animals also participate in reviewing and issuing ethics code.
The Research Ethics Work Team, while respecting the principles of ethics in research and technology, has a specific mechanism to monitor compliance with ethical guidelines and codes and preserve human dignity.
The research projects and student theses subject to the supervision, in order of priority, include research projects/theses 1- clinical trial 2- knowledge-based and technological 3- animal studies and 4- other subjects in the field of medicine, and 20% of supervision reports are submitted to the Ministerial Work Team for evaluation on an annual basis.
According to the instructions of the Ministerial Research Ethics Work Team, dealing with research violations is one of the tasks of the Work Team, and during numerous meetings, cases of research violations and retracted articles in reputable scientific journals have been examined by the Work Team.
All related reports are submitted to the Ministerial Work Team.
An educational pamphlet was prepared and made available to the faculty members, students and researchers of the University containing the examples of research misconducts to familiarize them as much as possible.
Given the necessity of observing the principles of ethics in publishing scientific works by the faculty members, since 2019, the research ethics work teams of the universities have been obliged to review the documents of Article 3 of Faculty Members with respect to observing all the ethical issues in research.
To achieve this, the relevant articles will be examined and approved by holding several meetings and carefully examining them, and then they will be submitted to the University's Audit Committee for further proceedings.
Laying the grounds and providing equal educational opportunities for professors, students and researchers is one of the important measures for improving the level of research ethics in the University.
This is achieved by holding national educational webinars and face-to-face workshops on subjects such as: ethics in research with an approach to ethics in publishing scientific works, ethics in knowledge-based and technological studies, the principles and standards of ethics in clinical trials, and the ethical principles and standards in working with laboratory animals.
Standardization of reproduction and breeding centers of laboratory animals according to the codes of ethics in working with laboratory animals is one of the tasks of the Work Team, leading to the following reforms in the University’s Animal House: