Informed Consent Policy

Procedures for obtaining, documenting, updating and withdrawing informed consent for participation in research and separate consent for publication of identifiable materials.

Contents

1. Purpose and types of consent
2. Information before making a decision
3. Obtaining and documenting consent
4. Decision-making support and legal representation
5. Modification of procedures and waiver of consent
6. Recordings, additional purposes and further use
7. Separate consent for publication of identifiable materials
8. Updating and withdrawing consent
9. Retention of consent records and submission to the editorial office
10. Article declaration and editorial verification

01. Purpose and types of consent

This policy defines how authors obtain, ensure and document informed consent in research submitted to Technosphere Safety. It covers surveys, interviews, observations, interventions and the use of identifiable information or materials. The scope of ethics review and general protective measures are established in the section on Ethical Requirements for Research Involving Human Participants.

Consent is a process of understandable information provision and voluntary decision-making, not merely a signature. Consent to participate, consent to audio or video recording and specified uses of data, and separate consent for publication of materials through which an individual may be identified are distinguished. One type of consent does not substitute for another; where a single document is used, decisions must be presented as separate, clearly identified items.

Permission from an employer, industrial facility manager or community representative does not replace the decision of a participant capable of giving consent independently. An author's agreement to publish an article and accept its licence does not constitute consent from research participants. Obtaining consent does not relieve researchers of their responsibilities to ensure safety and protect rights.

02. Information before making a decision

Before obtaining consent, participants must receive accessible information in a language they understand and in an appropriate format. The scope of the explanation must correspond to the study; essential conditions must not be concealed in complex legal language or communicated only after participation has begun. Information materials must cover:

• the purpose of the research, the responsible organisation, the role of the research team and the reasons for inviting the particular category of participants;
• the expected activities of participants, duration, questions, procedures and recordings; the experimental nature of interventions and available alternatives, where applicable;
• foreseeable inconvenience and risks, possible benefits without guarantees of outcomes, costs, reimbursement and compensation; for relevant medical research, assistance and compensation for research-related harm;
• information to be collected, purposes of use, persons authorised to access it, storage methods and retention periods or criteria for determining them, planned transfers and further uses;
• planned publication, the degree of de-identification and reasonably foreseeable limitations on confidentiality, including applicable disclosure obligations;
• the right to refuse participation, decline individual questions and discontinue participation, procedures for requesting deletion of data and any known limitations on deletion;
• funding and conflicts of interest material to the decision, researchers' contact information and an independent channel for concerns about participants' rights.

Researchers must provide opportunities to ask questions, check understanding of essential conditions and allow sufficient time for a decision. Participants receive a copy of the information and their decision or an accessible means of retaining them, provided this does not create additional risk.

03. Obtaining and documenting consent

Consent must be obtained before the relevant participation or use of information, except where an exception has been properly authorised. It must be obtained by a trained team member; where a participant is dependent on a researcher, safeguards for independent consent established in the participant protection policy apply. Silence or the absence of objections does not in itself establish consent.

• Written consent: the project, version of information provided, agreed activities and date are recorded; signatures of the participant or authorised representative and the person obtaining consent are included according to the approved procedure.
• Electronic consent: an explicit action by the participant, an opportunity to review the conditions and ask questions, and a verifiable record of the date and version are required. Preselected checkboxes are unsuitable. Identity verification must be proportionate to the risk and must not result in excessive collection of identifiers.
• Oral consent: permitted where this method complies with applicable requirements and the approved procedure. The research log records the substance of the decision, date and person obtaining consent; a witness or recording is used where required. For medical research, non-written consent must be witnessed and documented in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.
• Anonymous questionnaire: completion may constitute an indication of consent only under a procedure that has been justified in advance and approved where required, after accessible explanation of the conditions and a voluntary choice. Submission of a form alone does not justify collecting information without prior disclosure.

Names or signatures must not be collected merely as a formality where doing so would undermine justified anonymity; a permissible alternative method must be established before data collection. The consent process itself must not be audio-recorded without appropriate information and necessary permission. Author registration in OJS and submission checklist confirmations do not replace consent from participants.

04. Decision-making support and legal representation

Illiteracy, disability or a language barrier does not mean that a person lacks the capacity to consent. Accessible formats, translation, additional explanations and independent assistance where necessary must be provided. Interpreters and witnesses do not make decisions on behalf of individuals and must maintain confidentiality.

Where applicable rules require a decision by a legal representative, researchers must verify the representative's authority and document the basis of representation. Participants must be informed at a level accessible to them, and their additional informed assent must be obtained to the extent of their understanding where they are able to express it. Refusal or resistance must be respected; a workplace supervisor does not become a legal representative merely by holding that position.

The age at which independent consent may be given and any permitted exceptions are determined by applicable rules, rather than a universal age threshold imposed by the journal. Where a participant acquires independent capacity or the legal right to consent, their own consent for continued participation must be obtained in a timely manner. Where capacity is lost, further actions must be coordinated with the approved protocol and competent authority; a previous signature must not be treated as unconditional permission to continue any procedure.

05. Modification of procedures and waiver of consent

Exemption from ethics review, waiver of the requirement for a signed form and waiver of the requirement to obtain consent are distinct decisions. Each applicable exception, its scope and protective measures must be documented by a competent authority before the relevant activity. Researchers, editors and reviewers cannot independently grant such exemptions or waivers.

When requesting a modification or waiver, researchers must explain why the ordinary procedure is impossible or impracticable and consider less restrictive alternatives. For conventional waivers in health-related research, CIOMS guidance provides a combination of conditions: important social value, impossibility or impracticability without the waiver, and no more than minimal risk. Additional legal and ethical requirements remain applicable. Saving time or increasing response rates alone is insufficient.

If deferred consent is permitted in exceptional medical circumstances, it must have a specific legal basis and prior approval of the protocol; consent from a representative or a participant who has regained capacity must be obtained at the earliest opportunity. This is not general permission to conduct ordinary research without consent.

Research involving concealed methods is subject to additional restrictions under the participant protection policy. A waiver of consent for research does not automatically authorise publication of identifiable materials. A later letter or subsequent signature must not be represented as prior consent; authors must report the actual sequence of events.

06. Recordings, additional purposes and further use

Optional audio and video recordings, follow-up contact and additional uses of data must be presented as separate decisions. Refusal of an optional element must not prevent participation in the main study. Where recording or specific processing is genuinely necessary for a particular method, this must be explained in advance together with available alternatives; such a procedure must not be described as optional.

Consent for one project does not authorise every subsequent study, disclosure of original data or transfer of data to new recipients. Further use must remain within the stated purposes, access conditions and protective measures. Where a new purpose exceeds the agreed scope, new consent or a properly authorised waiver is required before implementation.

Broad consent for future research is possible only where a permissible legal and ethical basis exists and the areas of use, restrictions, access governance and ways for participants to raise concerns are clearly explained. It does not constitute an unlimited waiver of rights. Conditions for open or restricted access to research materials are governed by the Data Availability and Research Reproducibility Policy.

07. Separate consent for publication of identifiable materials

Where research materials could reasonably identify a participant, the journal requires separate written consent for publication, including a properly documented electronic form. This applies to recognisable photographs, videos, voice recordings, case descriptions and quotations that may identify an individual through context. Where there is reasonable doubt about anonymity, consent is required. Unnecessary identifiers must be removed even where consent has been obtained.

Participants must be shown the information and materials intended for publication in their proposed context; where identifiable patient information is to be published, the patient must be shown the manuscript. The consent document must establish precisely which materials and version have been authorised. Substantial expansion of identifiable content requires renewed consent.

Before a decision is made, the open availability of the article on the internet, its possible distribution and reuse must be explained. The journal applies CC BY 4.0: this licence permits reuse within the scope of granted copyright rights and subject to its conditions, but it does not itself override privacy or image rights. Consent for publication must not be framed as a waiver of all personal rights or a guarantee of control over copies distributed by others.

Where the required consent has not been obtained, identifiable materials must not be published: they must be excluded or appropriately de-identified without distorting the scientific meaning. Inability to contact an individual and silence do not constitute permission. For deceased participants, the permissibility of publication and the authority of a representative must be assessed under applicable requirements, rather than assuming that relatives have consented.

08. Updating and withdrawing consent

Consent must be reconsidered when procedures, risks, uses of data or the identifiable materials intended for publication change substantially. New information must be communicated before the changed activities take place; renewed consent and prior ethics committee approval must be obtained where required. Refusal must not result in punishment or adverse treatment.

Discontinuing participation, stopping further use of data and withdrawing permission for publication are distinct requests. Researchers must clarify the individual's wishes, discontinue the relevant future activities and explain what may be deleted or must be retained under applicable obligations. After irreversible anonymisation, it may be impossible to identify a particular record; such limitations must be explained before consent is given rather than introduced retrospectively.

If consent for identifiable publication is withdrawn before publication, authors must promptly notify the editorial office; the relevant material must be withheld until the issue is appropriately resolved. After publication, requests are considered in light of individual rights and the rules on corrections and retractions; privacy-protection measures are taken where necessary. Removal of all distributed copies must not be promised, and every request must not automatically be treated as grounds for retracting the entire article.

09. Retention of consent records and submission to the editorial office

The research institution and designated records custodian are responsible for the accuracy and preservation of supporting documentation; the corresponding author must ensure that editorial verification is possible. Consent forms, coding keys and participant data must be stored with restricted access. Retention periods and transfer of responsibility are governed by applicable requirements, the approved protocol and the Data Availability and Research Reproducibility Policy, taking account of mandatory restrictions concerning personal data retention.

The journal normally receives the authors' declaration and, when requested, a blank specimen of the consent form or information sheet used. Signed documents containing personal data must not be included in the article, open supplementary materials or public repositories, and must not be provided to reviewers unnecessarily.

Where verification of particular consent is required, the editorial office agrees on a secure and proportionate approach: confirmation from the responsible custodian, a redacted copy or another sufficient document. Complete forms must not be sent through ordinary communication channels without prior arrangement and appropriate grounds. During double-anonymous peer review, information identifying the authors is provided separately to the editorial office; participant information remains protected after publication.

10. Article declaration and editorial verification

Information on consent must be included in the consolidated research ethics compliance statement required under the Research Ethics Policy, with any necessary explanations in the methods section. A separate duplicative section is not required. Authors must state the method used to obtain and document consent, legal representation where applicable, grounds for exceptions and whether separate consent for identifiable publication was obtained.

If consent was not required, the specific reason must be explained, for example, because the research did not involve humans or identifiable information or materials. Where consent was otherwise required but waived by a competent authority, that authority, the date, reference number if available and scope of the decision must be stated. "Not applicable" does not replace information about a waiver, and ethics committee approval does not itself establish that consent was obtained.

The editorial office may request clarification and suspend consideration or publication pending verification. Lack of an explanation does not establish misconduct, but failure to obtain required consent may prevent publication. Concerns about false consent forms or statements are handled under the Policy on Handling Allegations of Misconduct; appeals are handled under the Complaints and Appeals Policy.

Participants, representatives and authors may contact technosphere@tiiame.uz, identifying the manuscript or article and describing the concern without unnecessary personal information. This policy does not retrospectively create consent that was never obtained: earlier studies are assessed according to the requirements applicable at the time and the actual rights of participants.

Ethical and methodological references

These documents are applied according to the nature of the research and their respective scope. Medical guidance does not turn an ordinary survey or interview into medical research. This policy specifies consent procedures and operates alongside the journal's other research ethics policies.

• Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing
• WMA Declaration of Helsinki (2024)
• CIOMS International Ethical Guidelines for Health-related Research Involving Humans (2016)
• ESRC Research Ethics Guidance: Consent
• ESRC Research Ethics Guidance: Research with Children and Young People
• ICMJE Recommendations: Protection of Research Participants
• Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)