Obtaining subjects’ consent to publish identifying personal information: current practices and identifying potential issues

BMC Medical Ethics

Table 4 Editors’ reports on their journals’ other practices regarding consent forms

Questions	Number of responses	Percentage
Are consent forms available from the journal?
Yes (form can be downloaded from the website)	14	60.9
Yes (form must be requested from an editor)	1	4.3
No	8	34.8
Does the journal accept other consent forms?
This question targeted those who responded “yes” to the first question (n = 15).
Yes, if they were developed by researchers or research institutions	1	6.7
Yes, if they were developed by researchers or research institutions and include all necessary items*	6	40.0
No	8	53.3
Does the journal confirm the contents of submitted consent forms?
This question targeted those who responded “no” to the first question (n = 8).
Yes	5	62.5
No	3	37.5

Note: Survey responses represented 23 journals.
*Respondents identified the following items as necessary (multiple answers possible): consent for publication (n = 4); inclusion of identifying information (n = 3); acceptance of consent forms written in other languages (n = 2); objective of the study (n = 2); protection of subject’s identity (n = 1); subject’s opportunity to review the manuscript (n = 1), other (n = 1).