Fieldwork, Interview, and Audio-Visual Research Ethics Policy

Resonance: Journal of Global Music Studies is committed to promoting ethical, respectful, and responsible research involving fieldwork, interviews, oral histories, participant observation, sound recordings, images, video materials, musical performances, archival sources, and culturally sensitive materials.

Because the journal publishes scholarship in musicology, ethnomusicology, sound studies, performance studies, cultural history, translation, interviews, and related fields, authors must ensure that their research complies with appropriate ethical standards, respects the rights and dignity of participants and communities, and protects confidential, restricted, or culturally sensitive materials.

2. Research Involving Human Participants

Research involving human participants includes, but is not limited to, interviews, oral histories, questionnaires, ethnographic observation, lessons, rehearsals, performances, workshops, community events, digital interactions, and correspondence with musicians, composers, listeners, curators, teachers, students, cultural workers, or other individuals.

Authors should ensure that:

• participants understand the purpose of the research and how their words, images, voices, performances, or personal information may be used;
• participation is voluntary and free from coercion, pressure, or misleading representation;
• participants are informed of whether they will be named, anonymized, or described indirectly;
• participants are informed of possible publication, online dissemination, indexing, archiving, or long-term accessibility of the research;
• authors respect any limits placed by participants on quotation, attribution, recording, translation, image use, or public circulation.

3. Informed Consent

Authors must obtain appropriate informed consent for interviews, recordings, photographs, videos, fieldwork observations, performance documentation, and other participant-based materials, unless a clear and ethically justified exception applies.

Consent may be written, recorded, or orally documented, depending on the research context, local practice, institutional requirements, and participant preference. Consent should normally address:

• the purpose and scope of the research;
• the type of material collected, such as interview text, audio, video, image, fieldnotes, or performance documentation;
• whether the participant will be named, anonymized, or identified by role or community affiliation;
• whether the material may be quoted, translated, reproduced, archived, or published online;
• whether the participant may review, correct, restrict, or withdraw specific materials before publication;
• any cultural, religious, community-based, institutional, or legal restrictions on the use of the material.

Authors should retain consent records where appropriate and may be asked by the Editorial Office to confirm that proper consent was obtained. Sensitive consent documents should not be submitted unless requested and should be handled in accordance with privacy and data-protection requirements.

4. Interviews and Oral Histories

Authors using interviews or oral histories must represent participants accurately and respectfully. When quoting, paraphrasing, translating, or editing spoken materials, authors should avoid changes that distort meaning, tone, context, identity, or intention.

For interview-based submissions, authors should consider:

• whether the interviewee has approved the use of their name and words;
• whether edited transcripts preserve the substance and meaning of the original conversation;
• whether translation choices are explained where they affect interpretation;
• whether sensitive personal, political, religious, institutional, or community information should be anonymized or omitted;
• whether the interview format, editing process, and consent conditions are sufficiently transparent to readers.

5. Audio, Video, Image, and Performance Materials

Authors must obtain appropriate permission before reproducing or publishing audio recordings, video recordings, photographs, screenshots, musical performances, rehearsals, lessons, ceremonies, or other audio-visual materials involving identifiable individuals, ensembles, communities, or rights holders.

Authors are responsible for confirming:

• that performers, speakers, interviewees, or participants have consented to the relevant use;
• that copyright, neighboring rights, performance rights, image rights, and archival restrictions have been considered;
• that captions, credits, permissions, and source information are accurate;
• that images or recordings have not been manipulated in a misleading way;
• that culturally restricted or private materials are not made public without appropriate authorization.

Where audio-visual materials cannot be published because of privacy, copyright, cultural restrictions, or participant safety, authors should describe the material and its ethical limitations clearly without disclosing restricted information.

6. Culturally Sensitive and Community-Restricted Materials

Research involving Indigenous communities, minority communities, religious practices, ritual music, sacred sound, private ceremonies, endangered traditions, politically sensitive contexts, or community-restricted knowledge requires particular ethical care.

Authors should avoid:

• publishing materials that a community considers private, sacred, restricted, or not intended for external circulation;
• extracting musical, oral, or cultural knowledge without proper acknowledgement or permission;
• presenting communities as static, exotic, anonymous, or without agency;
• disclosing locations, identities, rituals, repertoire, or practices that may expose participants or communities to harm;
• using archival or online materials in ways that conflict with community expectations or ethical restrictions.

Where appropriate, authors should explain how community permissions, local protocols, or collaborative research practices were considered in the research process.

7. Vulnerable Participants and Risk of Harm

Authors must take special care when research involves minors, students, refugees, displaced persons, politically exposed individuals, economically vulnerable participants, survivors of trauma, persons with limited capacity to consent, or participants whose safety, reputation, employment, legal status, or community standing may be affected by publication.

Authors should consider whether publication may create risks such as:

• identification of individuals who expected anonymity;
• exposure of sensitive political, religious, social, medical, legal, or personal information;
• harm to employment, reputation, family relationships, or community relationships;
• misuse of images, voices, recordings, or cultural materials after online publication;
• unintended disclosure of restricted places, rituals, repertoires, archives, or networks.

When necessary, authors should anonymize, obscure, generalize, or omit identifying details. However, anonymization must not distort the scholarly meaning of the research.

8. Archival, Digital, and Online Materials

Authors using archival, digital, or online materials must consider not only legal accessibility but also ethical appropriateness. Public availability does not automatically mean that material may be reproduced, analyzed, translated, or redistributed without restriction.

Authors should verify:

• the source, ownership, copyright status, and access conditions of archival or digital materials;
• whether the material contains identifiable persons, private information, or culturally sensitive content;
• whether the archive, collection, platform, or community imposes restrictions on reproduction or citation;
• whether screenshots, links, embedded media, or transcriptions require permission;
• whether the material may be ethically quoted or described without reproducing the full content.

9. Translation, Transcription, and Representation

Authors working across languages, dialects, scripts, musical notations, oral traditions, or culturally specific concepts must take care to avoid mistranslation, over-standardization, or distortion of meaning.

Where relevant, authors should clarify:

• who translated or transcribed the material;
• whether translations have been checked by participants, collaborators, or qualified speakers;
• how significant translation choices affect interpretation;
• whether original-language terms, song texts, interview excerpts, or musical concepts require contextual explanation;
• whether transcription or notation choices simplify, transform, or reinterpret the original sound or performance practice.

10. Ethics Approval and Institutional Review

Where required by the author’s institution, funder, country, research site, or disciplinary context, authors must obtain ethics approval or institutional review before conducting research involving human participants, interviews, recordings, or sensitive materials.

If formal ethics approval was not required, authors may still be asked to explain how informed consent, confidentiality, participant protection, copyright, and cultural sensitivity were addressed. The absence of a formal institutional review process does not remove the author’s ethical responsibility.

11. Required Author Statements

For submissions involving fieldwork, interviews, participant materials, audio-visual materials, or culturally sensitive sources, authors may be asked to include an ethics statement in the manuscript or during submission.

12. Editorial Assessment

The Editorial Office may request clarification, documentation, permissions, consent confirmation, ethics approval information, copyright evidence, or revisions if ethical concerns arise during submission, peer review, production, or after publication.

The journal may take editorial action when:

• participant consent is unclear, incomplete, or disputed;
• confidential or restricted materials appear to have been disclosed improperly;
• audio-visual, archival, musical, or image materials lack necessary permission;
• publication may expose individuals or communities to harm;
• culturally sensitive materials are presented without adequate context or authorization;
• the manuscript misrepresents participants, communities, performances, or source materials.

13. Consequences of Non-Compliance

Failure to comply with this policy may result in one or more of the following actions:

• request for clarification, revision, permission documentation, or additional ethical explanation;
• removal or anonymization of sensitive material before publication;
• return of the manuscript to the author(s);
• rejection of the manuscript;
• publication of a correction, expression of concern, or retraction after publication, where warranted;
• notification of relevant institutions, ethics bodies, rights holders, or affected parties in serious cases.

14. Policy Review

This policy may be revised periodically in response to developments in research ethics, fieldwork practice, data protection, copyright law, archival access, audio-visual publication, digital platforms, and disciplinary expectations in musicology, ethnomusicology, sound studies, and related fields.

Effective date: May 28, 2026

Last updated: May 28, 2026