Multiple unethical research studies conducted in the past throughout the world have cast a significant historical shadow on research involving human subjects. These studies exposed patients to diseases or unproven treatments, so the need for rules governing the design and implementation of research protocols become very evident. Research ethics provides guidelines for the responsible conduct of biomedical research. In addition, research ethics educates and monitors scientists conducting research to ensure the safety of research subjects and to prevent sloppy or irresponsible research.Research ethics have many values including honesty, objectivity, integrity, and carefulness. There are ethical issues regarding researches involving human biological materials; especially foetal tissues, human gametes and embryos, surplus biological materials from clinical procedures or from research projects and biobanks. In this review, we tried to outline principles and values of research ethics, demonstrate research ethics in animals, identify ethical principles in research involving human biological materials, genetic and human stem cell research, define criteria of institutional review board (IRB), identify ethical considerations in authorship, peer review, conflict of interest, data management and cover letter, and outline research misconducts.