Table 5.

Common ethical misconduct by stage in clinical research in China

Research process	Misconduct
Research design	Research participants (e.g., graduate students) failing to receive proper scientific training; Failing to register the clinical trials in public databases before recruitment;
	Relaxing eligibility criteria to recruit participants (e.g., enrolling subjects who do not meet inclusion or exclusion standards to expedite project completion)
Recruitment	Recruitment materials misleading subjects (e.g., implying that the test drug is healthy, safe, and can cure diseases); Enticing subjects with reimbursement; Conducting clinical trials secretly without recruitment and failing to inform the patients before signing the informed consent.
Informed consent	Failing to inform objectively (e.g., repeatedly emphasizing the free charge of drugs and subsidies while circumventing the key point); Going through informed consent as a formality with the only purpose to obtain the signature; Failing to obtain consent with signature.
Clinical trial	Collecting additional specimens without informing participants with the intention of using them for other research; Simply ignoring minor adverse effects during clinical trials; Failure to document the trial process; Carrying out clinical research without ethical approval.