All individuals have individual rights that must not be violated. Individual study participants, for example, have the right to control what happens to the (identified) personal data collected, what they say during a research or interview, and any photographs taken. This is especially true for photos of vulnerable persons (e.g., minors, patients, refugees, etc.) or images used in sensitive circumstances. In many cases, authors must obtain written approval before including photographs.

Identifying details (names, dates of birth, identity numbers, biometrical characteristics (such as facial features, fingerprint, writing style, voice pattern, DNA or other distinguishing characteristic) and other information) of the studied participants should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and genetic profiles unless the information is essential for scholarly purposes and the participant (or parent/guardian if the participant is a minor) Complete anonymity can be impossible to obtain in some instances. Detailed descriptions of individual participants, whether of their entire bodies or specific body parts, may reveal their identities. Under certain conditions, consent is not necessary as long as the information is anonymized and the submission does not include photographs that could identify the person.

If in doubt, acquire informed consent for publication. For example, covering the eye region in participant images is insufficient to ensure anonymity. If identifying traits are adjusted to maintain anonymity, such as in genetic profiles, writers must ensure that the changes do not affect me meaning.

• Images such as x rays, laparoscopic images, ultrasound images, brain scans, pathology slides unless there is a concern about identifying information in which case, authors should ensure that consent is obtained.
• Reuse of images: If images are being reused from prior publications, the Publisher will assume that the prior publication obtained the relevant information regarding consent. Authors should provide the appropriate attribution for republished images.

Regardless of whether material is collected from living or dead patients, they (family or guardian if the deceased has not made a pre-mortem decision) must have given prior written consent. The aspect of confidentiality as well as any wishes from the deceased should be respected.

When biological material is donated for a research project or data is collected as part of the informed consent procedure, authors must ensure that participants understand what type of (personal) data will be handled, how it will be used, and for what purpose. In the case of data obtained through a biobank/biorepository, it is likely that they will employ a broad consent, which allows study participants to consent to a wide range of uses of their data and samples and is deemed specific enough by research ethics committees to be considered "informed". However, authors should always double-check the specific biobank/biorepository policies, as well as any other sort of data provider policies (in non-bio research), to ensure that this is the case.

For all research involving human subjects, freely-given, informed consent to participate in the study must be obtained from participants (or their parent or legal guardian in the case of children under 16) and a statement to this effect should appear in the manuscript. In the case of articles describing human transplantation studies, authors must include a statement declaring that no organs/tissues were obtained from prisoners and must also name the institution(s)/clinic(s)/department(s) via which organs/tissues were obtained. For manuscripts reporting studies involving vulnerable groups where there is the potential for coercion or where consent may not have been fully informed, extra care will be taken by the editor and may be referred to the Springer Nature Research Integrity Group.

Individuals may agree to participate in a study but object to their data being published in a journal article. Before submitting a paper to a journal, authors should ensure that they have obtained consent from individuals to publish their data. This is particularly relevant to case studies.

The preceding should be summarized in a statement and placed in a section labeled "Declarations" before the reference list. Other declarations include funding, conflicts of interest/competing interests, ethical approval, consent, data and/or code availability, and author contribution statements.