Guidelines for research practice in Australia: NHMRC Statement & Professional Codes

The guidelines for research practice with human participants offered in the National Health and Medical Research Council's 'Statement on Human Experimentation and Supplementary Notes' and a number of professions' Codes of Ethics were examined in terms of the principles of beneficence, respect for persons and justice. Clear differences emerged between the Professional Codes and the NHMRC Statement, particularly in the areas of confidentiality, reporting of research results and further use of data. The question of whether the NHMRC Statement is sufficiently comprehensive to guide research in many fields is considered.