Healthcare Workers' Workplace Violence in Colombia: Influence of Structure-Based Factors.

Research in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region has increased over the recent years making it essential for researchers to be well-versed in ethics principles and guidelines, particularly when required to obtain approval from ethical review boards or committees [–]. This growing volume of research across the region has raised concerns regarding the capacity of researchers and institutions to uphold ethical research standards []. Gaps in the researchers’ knowledge of ethics guidelines and limited understanding of the role of research ethics committees have been reported as common barriers to conducting ethically sound research [–]. These gaps point to potential misconduct [–] and the need for better training [, ]. In addition, inconsistencies in the availability of contextually sensitive ethics guidelines, as well as structures and mandates of the authorities establishing and implementing them also poses a challenge to ethical research conduct [, ]. Commonly examined systems to assess research ethics include: oversight mechanisms, ethics review committees, building researchers’ capacity, availability of ethical standards for research, and responsible research conduct policies []. All these are often influenced by limited funding and growing demands and competition in the academic field []. A lack of consensus on when ethics approval is acquired [], along with ambiguous requirements, bureaucratic procedures, and limited expertise among research ethics committee (REC) members [] can have dire consequences, such as researchers modifying or abandoning their studies []. Although there is a growing body of literature on research ethics in the MENA region, those have been conducted only in a few countries, with data mainly drawn from a population of health sciences students and researchers (largely medicine or nursing) [–, –].