title: Oops, what about ethics?
abstract: Ethics approval of research studies is essential for the protection and rights of study subjects, whether this is for prospective research or record reviews. This article shares a painful lesson learned from a field experience where the appropriate steps for obtaining ethics approval were not followed by a young researcher. This researcher had embarked on an operational research project, but had omitted to seek ethics approval from a local ethics committee. Young researchers, particularly from low- and middle-income countries, need to learn about the importance and value of ethics.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Services, Management Sciences for Health, Abuja, Nigeria.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Oladimeji
authors.affiliation: Operational Research Unit, Brussels Operational Center, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), MSF-Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Isaakidis
authors.affiliation: Operational Research Unit, Brussels Operational Center, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), MSF-Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zachariah
authors.affiliation: Centre for International Health, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Hinderaker
authors.affiliation: Operational Research Unit, Brussels Operational Center, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), MSF-Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koghali
authors.affiliation: Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van Griensven
authors.affiliation: London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK ; International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Paris, France.
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Harries
authors.affiliation: International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Paris, France.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Edginton
keywords: capacity building; ethics; low-income countries; operational research; publication