Ethical Clearance

1. Research Involving Human Participants

The International Journal of Theory and Application in Elementary and Secondary School Education (IJTAESE) is committed to protecting the rights, dignity, safety, and well-being of research participants in accordance with internationally recognized ethical principles and applicable regulations.

Research involving students, teachers, parents, or other human participants must obtain approval from an appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB), Research Ethics Committee (REC), or equivalent authority before data collection, unless a formal exemption applies.

Authors must ensure voluntary participation and obtain informed consent. For research involving minors, parental or legal guardian consent and age-appropriate participant assent must be obtained where required.

2. Privacy and Confidentiality

Authors must protect participants' identities and personal information, particularly those of children and adolescents. Names, photographs, videos, academic records, and other identifiable information must not be disclosed without appropriate authorization and explicit consent for publication.

Research data must be collected, stored, and reported in accordance with applicable privacy regulations and institutional ethical requirements.

3. Ethical Approval Statement

All manuscripts involving human participants must include an Ethical Approval Statement specifying:

Name of the approving ethics committee or institution.
Approval number and date, where applicable.
Confirmation of informed consent and parental or guardian consent, where required.
Compliance with relevant institutional, national, and international ethical standards.

Studies formally exempted from ethical review must provide an appropriate justification and supporting documentation when requested.

4. Conflicts of Interest and Research Integrity

Authors must disclose relevant financial and non-financial conflicts of interest and all sources of research funding.

Fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, misrepresentation of ethical approval, and violations of participant confidentiality are prohibited.

IJTAESE reserves the right to request ethical documentation and investigate suspected violations. Confirmed misconduct may result in manuscript rejection, correction, or retraction in accordance with COPE guidelines.

5. Publication Ethics and Editorial Oversight

IJTAESE follows the ethical principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Authors are responsible for ensuring that their research complies with applicable ethical requirements and for cooperating with editorial investigations when necessary.