The initial responsibility for adherence to ethical guidelines lies with the responsible investigators submitting their research findings to AASLD meetings or journals. These guidelines are codified in two publications. First, “Experimental Procedures Involving Human Subjects (see www3.interscience.wiley.com.) These state clearly that (a) informed consent in writing was obtained from each patient, and (b) the study protocol conformed to the ethical guidelines of the 1975 Declaration of Helsinki as reflected in a priori approval by the institutional review committee. AASLD will only accept papers for review from liver transplant centers that explicitly state that no donor organs were obtained from executed prisoners or other institutionalized persons. Papers without such explicit statements will be returned without review.
Second, with regard to “Experimental Procedures Involving Animals”, similar compliance is expected with the published guidelines from authors, that require assurance that all animals received humane care according to the criteria outlined in the “Guide for the Care and use of Laboratory Animals” prepared by the National Academy of Sciences and published by the NIH (NIH publication 86-23 revised 1985).