Journal of Sustainable Civil Engineering and Technology (JSCET)

1. Declaration on Human and Animal Rights

The Journal of Sustainable Civil Engineering and Technology (JSCET) is committed to ethical research that respects human dignity, public safety, animal welfare, and environmental sustainability. Authors are responsible for ensuring that all research complies with applicable institutional, national, and international ethical requirements.

2. Human Participants

Research involving human participants, including surveys, interviews, construction workers, communities, behavioural studies, wearable sensors, monitoring technologies, or identifiable personal data, shall receive appropriate approval from an Institutional Review Board (IRB), Research Ethics Committee (REC), or equivalent authority where required.

Such research shall respect the rights, safety, privacy, confidentiality, and dignity of participants and, where applicable, shall follow recognised ethical principles such as the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki. Informed consent shall be obtained from participants unless an appropriate ethics committee has approved an exemption or waiver.

3. Animal Welfare

Research involving animals shall comply with applicable institutional and national animal-welfare requirements and shall receive approval from an appropriate Animal Ethics Committee or equivalent authority where required.

Authors should follow recognised principles for responsible animal research, including the ARRIVE Guidelines and the principles of Replacement, Reduction and Refinement (3Rs). Unnecessary pain, suffering, distress, or disturbance to animals shall be avoided.

4. Wildlife and Environmental Responsibility

Research involving wildlife, aquatic organisms, protected species, or sensitive ecosystems shall comply with relevant environmental legislation, ethical requirements, and permit conditions. Researchers shall minimise unnecessary disturbance to animals, habitats, and ecosystems and shall consider the environmental and societal impa cts of civil engineering activities.

5. Ethical Approval and Consent Declaration

Where applicable, manuscripts shall state:

• the name of the approving ethics committee or authority;
• the approval/reference number, where available;
• confirmation of informed consent for human participants, where required; and
• relevant permits or approvals for animal, wildlife, or ecological research.

The Journal reserves the right to request evidence of ethical approval, consent, permits, or exemptions and may reject or take appropriate editorial action where ethical requirements have not been satisfied.

6. Research Not Involving Humans or Animals

For conventional civil engineering research that does not involve human participants or animals—such as numerical modelling, structural or geotechnical analysis, laboratory testing of engineering materials, hydraulic modelling, engineering design, or computational studies—authors should state:

7. Human and Animal Rights Declaration: This research did not involve human participants or experimental animals; therefore, ethical approval and informed consent were not applicable.

8. Governing Principles

This policy should be interpreted in accordance with applicable laws and institutional requirements and, where relevant, internationally recognised guidance including the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki, ARRIVE Guidelines, and applicable professional engineering and environmental ethical standards.

Authors remain responsible for ensuring that their research protects human rights, public safety, animal welfare, environmental sustainability, and professional integrity.