Research Ethics Committees and scientific publications

Abstract

The United Nations’ General Assembly adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights once the Second World War and its concomitant horrors had ended, stating inarticle 27 that, “Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits,” and, “Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.”The World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki may be added to the foregoing; it stated that a research proposal’s pro- tocol should be submitted to an independent organ for its, “consideration, comment, guidance and approval,” thereby giving birth to what is known today as a “Research Ethics Committee” (REC).