Ethical approval for research in physiology education.

The goal of this article is to reflect on the contemporary ethical standards that should be applied to the publication of physiology education research. As teachers, we are all education researchers to some degree but our appreciation of when and how regulatory requirements apply to our work is variable. A significant number of articles in Advances in Physiology Education that might be classified as "research involving human participants" do not document ethical safeguards such as Institutional Review Board approval and informed consent, which are required according to journal policy. I elaborate my personal view that we should strive to maintain the present community standards for conducting and publishing education research. And, as always, I hope the road to hell is not paved with good intentions!