A scoping review of reporting ‘Ethical Research Practices’ in research conducted among refugees and war-affected populations in the Arab world

BMC Medical Ethics

Table 1 Study descriptors

Variable		Categories		Frequency	Percent
Publication year		2000–01		9	5.5
		2002–03		16	9.8
		2004–05		14	8.5
		2006–07		20	12.2
		2008–09		21	12.8
		2010–11		24	14.6
		2012–13		60	36.6
Country		Palestine		56	34.1
		Lebanon		29	17.7
		Sudan		28	17.1
		Jordan		26	15.9
		Others^a		25	15.2
Research participants	Composition	Internally displaced		91	55.5
		Refugees		65	39.6
		Others^b		8	4.9
	Age groups	Adults/older adults		108	65.9
		Children		30	18.3
		All age groups		26	15.9
Research characteristics	Discipline	Public Health		103	62.8
		Social		34	20.7
		Biomedical		12	7.3
		Others^c		15	9.1
	Methodology	Quantitative		94	57.3
		Qualitative		56	34.1
		Mixed methods		14	8.5
Other descriptors	First author affiliation	Arab		82	50.0
	First author affiliation	Non-Arab		82	50.0
	Author collaboration	National		34	20.7
		Regional		5	3.0
		International		83	50.6
		Solo author		42	25.6
	Funding sources	International		51	31.1
		UN Organizations		5	3.0
		Mixed^d		12	7.3
		No funding		7	4.3
		Not mentioned		81	49.4
	Journal type	National		2	1.2
		Regional		13	7.9
		International		149	90.9
	Journal submission guidelines	Code of ethics requirement		115	70.6
	Journal submission guidelines	No requirement		48	29.4
Ethical research conduct	Institutional approval	Yes	IRB/ REC	50	30.5
			Others^e	29	17.7
			Total	79	48.2
		No/ Not mentioned		85	51.8
	Access to the community/research site	Yes		90	54.9
	Access to the community/research site	Not mentioned		74	45.1
	Informed consent and/or assent	Yes		88	53.7
	Informed consent and/or assent	Not mentioned		76	46.3

^aOther countries include Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, KSA, Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, Yemen and a combination of 2 or more Arab States together
^bOther research populations include special interest groups such as health care professionals
^cExample of other study types include anthropological studies
^dMixed funding includes concurrent funding from several sources such as the WHO and academic institutions
^fOther institutional approval types include Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health