The eligibility of Public Administration research for ethics review: a case study of two international peer-reviewed journals

Abstract

This article reports on research aimed at assessing why Public Administration research is eligible for research ethics review or not through a quantitative content analysis of two international peer-reviewed journals. Through a comprehensive literature review on research integrity, research ethics and human subject protection regulations, the reasons, convictions and conditions for ethics review were identified and combined into a conceptual framework for the purpose of the content analysis. The study revealed that 60% of the articles reported on research involving human participants directly or indirectly. An interesting observation was the lack of reporting on ethical considerations in general and specifically in the research design of those articles with the potential to harm human subjects. It is recommended that higher education institutions hosting researchers in Public Administration, as well as peer-reviewed journals, should instil the awareness and sensitivity for research ethics among researchers. Points for practitioners The study on which this article is based reports on the qualifying reasons, convictions and conditions for ethics review in Public Administration research. Consequently, the article proposes a conceptual framework that could be used by Public Administration researchers and ethics review committees to assess whether research is eligible for ethics review or not.