1. Study approved by an ethics committee or institutional review board

This study involving human participants was reviewed and approved by the [full name of the ethics committee or institutional review board] of [institution name] (approval number: [number]; date: [date]). The study was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to their inclusion in the study.

2. Study approved by an ethics committee, with verbal informed consent

This study was reviewed and approved by the [committee name] of [institution name] (approval number: [number]; date: [date]). Verbal informed consent was obtained from all participants and documented in accordance with the procedure approved by the committee, because [reason, e.g. the study involved a telephone survey / participants with limited literacy].

3. Ethics approval formally waived or exempted by a committee

The [committee name] of [institution name] reviewed this study and determined that it was exempt from full ethics review (exemption reference: [number]; date: [date]) because [reason, e.g. it involved a minimal-risk, anonymous survey of adult professionals]. Informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to data collection.

4. No formal ethics committee available at the authors' institution

At the time this study was conducted, [institution name] did not have a formal institutional review board or research ethics committee, and no formal ethics approval was required under national regulations for non-interventional survey research of this kind. The study was nevertheless conducted in full accordance with the ethical principles of the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. All participants were informed of the purpose of the study and the voluntary nature of participation, informed consent was obtained from all participants before data collection, and all data were anonymized and treated as strictly confidential.

Note: this option is not available for studies involving vulnerable groups (e.g., minors, patients, refugees) or sensitive personal data; such studies require formal ethics approval.

5. Anonymous, non-interventional survey exempt under national regulations

Under the applicable national regulations of [country], formal ethics approval was not required for this anonymous, non-interventional, minimal-risk survey of adult volunteers. Participation was voluntary, informed consent was obtained from all participants at the start of the survey, no personally identifiable information was collected, and participants could withdraw at any time.

6. Secondary analysis of publicly available data

Ethics approval was not required for this study because it is based exclusively on secondary analysis of [name of dataset], a publicly available and fully anonymized dataset collected by [data provider]. The authors did not interact with human participants and had no access to personally identifiable information. Ethical review and informed consent procedures for the original data collection were the responsibility of [data provider], and the data were used in accordance with the provider's terms of use.

7. Secondary data obtained from a third party under license or agreement

Ethics approval was not required for this study because it is based on secondary analysis of anonymized data obtained from [third party] under [license / data use agreement]. Ethical review and informed consent for the original data collection were the responsibility of [third party], and the data were used strictly in accordance with the terms of the agreement.

8. Literature-based study (systematic review, bibliometric analysis, meta-analysis, or conceptual paper)

Ethics approval and informed consent were not required for this study because it did not involve human participants, animal subjects, or personal data. The study is based exclusively on the analysis of previously published literature [and bibliographic records retrieved from the Scopus / Web of Science database].

9. Organizational data collected with employer permission (use in addition to option 1-5, as applicable)

Formal permission to collect data was obtained from the management of the participating organization(s) prior to data collection. Organizational records were accessed and used only with authorization, and the identities of the participating organization(s) and their employees have been anonymized to preserve confidentiality.

10. Interviews or focus groups with professionals or experts

This study involved [interviews / focus groups] with [professionals / experts] participating in their professional capacity. [Ethics approval details as per option 1-5, as applicable.] All participants were informed of the purpose of the study, informed consent was obtained prior to participation, participants could decline to answer any question or withdraw at any time, and all identifying details of individuals and organizations have been anonymized in the reporting of findings.