Abstract
Researchers engaged in studies involving human subjects are morally obligated to observe the Declaration of Helsinki Ethical Guidelines for Clinical Research and Ethical Guidelines for Epidemiological Research. The important role of these guidelines is to maximize the well-being of individual human subjects and to ensure that the results are of benefit to society. This paper overviews three important issues in the guidelines: (1) the need for any research protocol to observe minimum ethical requirements, (2) the need for researchers to report relevant financial relationships to the conflict-of-interest committee, and for the research protocol to be reviewed by the committee in accordance with the conflict-of-interest policy or rules of their institution, and (3) the need for any clinical trial to be registered in a publicly accessible database before recruitment of the first subject.
