Ethics and funding in JATS: encode the statement, preserve the evidence

1. Name the target and the convention separately

The exchange target here is JATS Journal Publishing 1.4, the NISO revision approved on 31 October 2024. Selecting that target makes the structural question concrete: does a complete document conform to that schema? It does not establish compatibility with every repository or deposit service.

For the ethics section, use the published JATS4R Ethics statements version 1 convention. Its page lists DTD versions 1.0–1.2. We use its dated convention with the documented JATS 1.4 structures; we do not call it a new JATS4R 1.4 recommendation. The exact sample still needs its own structural and convention checks.

Reference: NLM: JATS Journal Publishing 1.4 · JATS4R: Ethics statements, published version 1

2. Preserve EF75 before improving its wording

The fictional source notes below are the complete supplied claims for this exercise. Do not fill their gaps from a template. In particular, a missing approval number is not evidence that review was unnecessary, and a missing award number is not proof that there was no funding.

Training Foundation D is a fictional name, not a verified registry identity. Keep its relationship to data collection distinct from a university affiliation or an unspecified role in analysis. The existing funding-metadata guide explains how organization and award identities are investigated in a real case.

3. Put the attributed ethics narrative in a titled section

Place a section in article back matter and identify it with sec-type="ethics-statement". Give it a title and preserve the attributed narrative in a paragraph. The convention helps a consumer locate an ethics statement; it does not authenticate the committee or the decision.

The following is a fragment, not a complete validated article. Notice that it says the authors report approval and lists what was not supplied. Replacing that text with “approval verified” would change the claim even if the XML remained structurally acceptable.

Reference: JATS4R: Ethics statements, published version 1 · JATS 1.4: section model

4. Keep structured support and the missing details together

In article metadata, put the stated funding source inside an award group, followed by the narrative funding statement. JATS allows a textual funding source and does not require inventing an award identifier to fill a gap. In this model, award groups precede funding statements.

The fragment deliberately has no award-id or organization identifier. The narrative records that those values were not supplied. It also preserves the absent analysis-role description; do not silently turn that absence into a claim that the funder had no role.

Reference: JATS 1.4: funding-group model · JATS 1.4: award-group model · JATS 1.4: funding-source model · JATS 1.4: funding-statement model

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5. Record five different checks

A fragment can be well formed and still lack the context required by a full article model. For a local exercise, place the exact fragments in a complete original teaching document, use an explicitly pinned JATS 1.4 schema, and retain the input, validator result and schema hashes. A successful parser alone is not a schema result.

Check the chosen convention and meaning separately. JATS accepts text in sec-type, so a misspelling of ethics-statement may pass the schema but fail the convention. Moving an award group after a funding statement should fail this structural model. Neither test checks a real ethics decision.

Reference: JATS 1.4: sec-type attribute · JATS 1.4: funding-group model

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6. Compare the strength of each statement in both languages

The paired ethics notes express the same attributed claim: “the authors report” corresponds to «أفاد المؤلفون». “Were not supplied” corresponds to «لم تُقدَّم», not “not required”. Both retain protocol version 2 and the same three missing details. The funding notes preserve data collection and the unknown analysis role.

Review literal tag tokens, punctuation and text direction in the rendered article before publication. XML element names stay unchanged between languages. Natural Arabic can reorder a sentence without converting an unknown into a negative fact. Preserve the complete notes so that a later wording change can be compared with its source.

7. Hand off a precise result, not a blanket validated label

An adequate technical handoff names the exact sample, schema version and each check actually run. If only the parser was run, record the schema check as not performed. If structure passes but the convention fails, keep that failure visible and correct the relevant field before repeating that check.

In EF75, real approval and support verification remain outside the exercise, and recipient/deposit readback was not performed. No Lumora/OJS export, Crossref payload or production service was tested by these fragments. For a real manuscript, the responsible evidence reviewer and intended recipient profile must be identified before their separate checks can be closed.

Questions for a practical final check

• Is every assertion traceable to the supplied note?
• Are missing values different from negative statements?
• Is the complete document checked against a named, pinned schema?
• Is the ethics convention checked separately from schema structure?
• Are underlying evidence and recipient readback still separately reported?