Informed Consent Policy
Patients have a fundamental right to privacy and confidentiality. Personal health information must not be disclosed without the patient’s explicit written informed consent.
- Identifiable information—such as names, initials, hospital identification numbers, photographs, or pedigrees—must not be published unless it is scientifically justified and written informed consent has been obtained from the patient or, where appropriate, from a parent or legal guardian.
- During the consent process, patients should be given the opportunity to review the manuscript to understand how their information will be presented. They must also be informed that the published material may be accessible in both print and electronic formats.
- Written informed consent must be appropriately documented and retained by the authors.
To ensure the protection of patient privacy, non-essential identifying details should be excluded from the manuscript. When uncertainty exists regarding the adequacy of anonymization, informed consent should be obtained. For example, simply obscuring the eye region in clinical photographs is insufficient to guarantee anonymity. If identifying features have been altered or removed to protect confidentiality, authors must confirm that such modifications do not affect the scientific integrity or interpretation of the work, and editors should acknowledge this assurance where relevant.
