Ethical Approval

1. Introduction

The Sunan Ampel Review of Political and Social Sciences (SARPASS) is committed to ensuring that all research published in the journal is conducted in accordance with recognized ethical standards and applicable regulations.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their research involving human participants, personal data, sensitive information, or other ethically sensitive subjects has received appropriate ethical approval or exemption from a recognized research ethics committee or institutional review board (IRB), where required.

2. Research Involving Human Participants

Research involving human participants must comply with relevant ethical principles concerning respect for persons, informed consent, privacy, confidentiality, and protection from potential harm.

Authors should obtain ethical approval from an appropriate ethics committee or institutional review board before conducting research whenever such approval is required by applicable regulations, institutional policies, or established research-ethics standards.

The manuscript should include information regarding the ethical approval, including:

  • The name of the ethics committee or institutional review board.

  • The institution responsible for granting approval.

  • The approval or reference number, where applicable.

  • The date or year of approval, where applicable.

3. Informed Consent

Where applicable, authors must obtain informed consent from research participants before collecting or using personal information, interviews, surveys, recordings, photographs, or other identifiable information.

Participants should be adequately informed about:

  • The purpose and nature of the research.

  • Their participation and any associated risks.

  • How their information will be collected, used, stored, and reported.

  • Their right to withdraw from participation where applicable.

If identifiable information or images of individuals are included in a manuscript, appropriate consent for publication should be obtained when required.

4. Research Involving Personal or Sensitive Data

Authors must ensure that personal, confidential, or sensitive data are collected, processed, stored, and reported responsibly.

Researchers should take appropriate measures to:

  • Protect participants' privacy and confidentiality.

  • Remove or anonymize personally identifiable information where appropriate.

  • Prevent unauthorized access to research data.

  • Comply with applicable data-protection laws, institutional requirements, and ethical standards.

Authors should not disclose personal information that could unnecessarily identify research participants.

5. Research That Does Not Require Ethical Approval

Not all research requires formal ethical approval. For example, certain studies based exclusively on publicly available documents, published literature, publicly accessible datasets, or other non-identifiable secondary sources may not require review by an ethics committee.

Where formal ethical approval was not required, authors should provide a clear statement in the manuscript explaining the basis for the exemption or non-requirement where appropriate.

For example:

"This study did not require formal ethical approval because it used publicly available and non-identifiable secondary data and did not involve direct interaction with human participants."

The applicability of such an exemption should be determined according to the relevant institutional and regulatory requirements.

6. Ethical Approval Statement

Where ethical approval has been obtained, authors should include an appropriate statement in the manuscript. For example:

"This study received ethical approval from the [Name of Ethics Committee/Institutional Review Board], [Institution], under approval number [Approval Number]."

Where applicable, the manuscript should also include a statement concerning informed consent.

7. Responsibilities of Authors

Authors are responsible for:

  • Obtaining ethical approval when required.

  • Ensuring that research participants are treated ethically and respectfully.

  • Obtaining informed consent where applicable.

  • Providing accurate information about ethical approval and research procedures.

  • Protecting participants' privacy and confidentiality.

  • Complying with relevant institutional, national, and international ethical requirements.

Authors must not provide false, misleading, or fabricated information regarding ethical approval.

8. Editorial Review and Compliance

The Editorial Office of SARPASS may request evidence of ethical approval or exemption when considered necessary. The journal may also request clarification regarding informed consent, participant protection, data confidentiality, or other ethical aspects of the research.

If serious ethical concerns are identified before publication, the manuscript may be returned to the authors, subjected to further review, or rejected.

If ethical concerns arise after publication, SARPASS may investigate the matter and take appropriate action in accordance with its publication-ethics and correction/retraction policies.

9. Commitment to Research Ethics

SARPASS is committed to promoting responsible research practices and protecting the rights, dignity, privacy, and welfare of research participants.

The journal expects authors, reviewers, and editors to uphold high standards of research integrity and to comply with applicable ethical requirements throughout the research and publication process.