Ethical Clearance
ETHICAL CLEARANCE
Much of the research published in SBAMER involves people, such as owners, employees, and customers of small businesses, through interviews, observations, surveys, or company documents. Authors are responsible for ensuring that their research is conducted ethically and respects the rights of participants.
Requirements for Authors
- Informed consent – participants must be informed about the purpose of the research and agree to participate voluntarily.
- Confidentiality – the identity of participants and sensitive business data must be protected. Business names may be anonymised (e.g., “PT AM”, “CV SMN”) when requested by the business owner.
- Permission to use data – authors must have permission to use internal documents, financial statements, or other data belonging to an organisation.
- Ethics approval – research that requires approval from an ethics committee (e.g., research involving vulnerable groups or health data) must state the name of the committee and the approval number.
Ethics Statement in the Manuscript
Authors should include a short statement in the Methods section or in the declarations at the end of the manuscript, for example:
“This study was conducted in accordance with ethical principles of research. All participants were informed about the purpose of the study and gave their consent to participate. The identity of the participants and the business has been kept confidential.”
The editor may ask authors to provide proof of consent or ethics approval. Manuscripts that do not meet these requirements may be rejected.
