Research Ethics

1. Scope

This page applies to Research Hub features: topic and gap generation, survey building and distribution, qualitative coding and thematic analysis, statistical analysis, and publish-readiness checks.

2. Tools, Not Ethics Approval

Our research tools help you design, run, and analyse a study more efficiently. They do not replace, and are not a substitute for, formal ethics review by your institution's Research Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board (IRB), where such review is required.

3. Your Obligations as a Researcher

• Obtain any required ethics approval before collecting data from human participants.
• Obtain informed consent from participants, and explain clearly how their data will be used.
• Anonymise or de-identify participant data where your ethics approval or institutional policy requires it.
• Comply with any additional requirements set by your funder, journal, or institution.

4. Handling Data from Human Subjects

If you upload survey responses or other data relating to identifiable individuals, you confirm you have the legal basis and consent needed to process that data, and you remain the data controller for that participant data under applicable privacy law.

5. Publish Readiness and Academic Integrity

Publish-readiness checks help format your work to common journal and thesis conventions. They do not verify the scientific validity, originality, or ethical clearance of your research — that responsibility remains yours and your supervisors' or co-authors'.

6. Institutional Compliance

Where your institution has its own research data management or ethics compliance requirements, those requirements take precedence over any default behaviour of SizaPoint's tools.