Adherence to ethics reporting standards in locally accredited medical journals: a case study from a developing country

To contribute to local government efforts to regulate scholarly journals in Libya, this study was undertaken to evaluate the reporting of ethics approval and participant consent in Libyan medical journals accredited for faculty promotion. A total of 752 articles involving human research, published between 2021 and 2025 in eleven accredited Libyan medical journals, were examined for the presence of documented ethics approval and participant consent. Four of eleven journals had clear policies requiring reporting of both criteria. Overall, 18.1% of articles reported ethics approval together with consent, 12.4% reported only approval, 20.5% reported only consent, and 49.1% reported neither. Chi-square analysis showed a significant difference in reporting patterns across the journal quartiles (χ2(9) = 31.9, p < 0.001). Journals in lower locally-assigned quartiles were significantly less likely to report ethics approval, while consent reporting did not differ by quartile. Prospective studies had the highest full compliance rate (23.8%) and case reports the lowest (2.5%), and in the most compliant journal, 65.4% of prospective studies were fully compliant. In one journal, no articles were fully compliant. In conclusion, a large fraction of articles in Libyan accredited journals lacks documentation of ethics approval and participant consent, in contradiction to the journals' stated policies. The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research is called on to enforce reporting standards in the journals it has accredited for faculty promotion.