PROOF Copyright © European Society of Anaesthesiology. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited. ORIGINAL ARTICLE Research ethics committee approval as reported for abstracts submitted to the annual Euroanaesthesia meeting Paul McConnell, Nechama Kaufman, Stefan De Hert, Marc C. Samama, Zsolt Molnar and Sharon Einav BACKGROUND The annual congress of the European So- ciety of Anaesthesiology (ESA) is one of the largest anaes- thesia congresses in the world and exhibits more than 1200 abstracts annually. OBJECTIVES The aims of this study were to quantify the frequency of inadequate evidence of ethical approval for abstracts submitted to the ESA congress and to examine whether abstracts without appropriate ethical approval were subsequently accepted. DESIGN AND SETTING All abstracts submitted in 2015 were adjudicated according to European ethical criteria. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE The proportion of submitted abstracts that lacked evidence of appropriate ethics com- mittee approval. Secondary outcomes included the pro- portion of accepted abstract that lacked evidence of appropriate ethical approval; the proportion of correctly identified case reports; the proportion of accepted abstracts that lacked evidence of appropriate ethics committee approvals corresponding to location (within/outside Europe); and the proportion of accepted abstracts that lacked evi- dence of appropriate ethics committee approvals corre- sponding to a specific area of research. RESULTS In total, 1792 abstracts were reviewed and 1572 (87.7%) involved humans. In 527 (29.4%), the authors failed to demonstrate adequate ethical approval with higher rates in abstracts submitted from Europe (32.1%) than the rest of the world (23.5%), P < 0.001. Appropriate approvals were reported in 80% of animal studies, 74.6% of case reports and 57.6% of human research studies. The proportion with evidence of adequate ethical approvals was lowest in ob- stetric anaesthesia and emergency medicine. Case reports were identified correctly 98.6% (347/352) of the time, but 14 research abstracts were assigned wrongly to this cate- gory. Most abstracts (68.5%, 361/527) lacking evidence of ethical approval were still accepted for presentation. CONCLUSION Research abstracts lacking evidence of ap- propriate ethical approval are common worldwide. Societies shoulder the responsibility for ensuring that only ethically sound abstracts are presented at meetings. Abstract sub- mission systems must include mechanisms to ensure that publications are accepted and judged not just on scientific merit but also on adherence to best ethical practice. Published online xx month 2017 Introduction The annual congress of the European Society of Anaes- thesiology (ESA) is one of the largest anaesthesia con- ferences in the world, routinely hosting in excess of 6000 delegates. In addition to a full educational programme, the conference offers the opportunity for researchers from all over the world to present their research results. All research submitted should be conducted in accor- dance with the Declaration of Helsinki, 1 with appropriate oversight and review from an institutional review board (IRB)/research ethics committee where applicable. Eur J Anaesthesiol 2017; 34:1–7 From the Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley, UK (PMc), the Intensive Care Unit, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel (NK), the Department of Anaesthesiology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium (SDH), the Department of Anaesthesiology, Cochin and Ho ˆ tel-Dieu University Hospitals, Paris Descartes University, Paris, France (MCS), the Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Therapy, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary (ZM), and the Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Shaare Zedek Medical Center and Hebrew University Faculty of Medicine, Jerusalem, Israel (SE) Correspondence to Sharon Einav, MD, Director Surgical Intensive Care Unit, Shaare Zedek Medical Centre affiliated with the Hebrew University, P.O. Box 3235, Jerusalem 91031, Israel Tel: +972 2 6666664; fax: +972 2 6555144; e-mail: einav_s@szmc.org.il 0265-0215 Copyright ß 2017 European Society of Anaesthesiology. All rights reserved. DOI:10.1097/EJA.0000000000000669