Norway employs a self-regulatory approach to addressing ethical issues in social science and humanities research. This system, characterized by the absence of pre-approval from external research ethics committees, delegates the responsibility for ethics evaluation to researchers and their respective institutions. To facilitate this self-regulation, the National Committee for Research Ethics in the Social Sciences and the Humanities (NESH) was established in 1990 with the mandate of developing field-specific ethical guidelines. These guidelines, first introduced in 1993, serve as a living document that is continuously refined and shaped by researchers themselves through NESH's participatory process. This iterative and inclusive process ensures that the guidelines remain relevant and effective in guiding ethical research practices. The self-regulatory system is further strengthened by the development of guidelines for specific research areas, such as internet research ethics. 

It is important to note that researchers may also seek guidance from NESH on ethical considerations in their research projects if needed. NESH is typically asked to address questions related to conflicts of interests, academic freedom, ensuring freely given consent, assessing children's capacity to consent, establishing limits for the protection of sources, balancing the researchers’ duty of confidentiality and the obligation to inform about planned criminal acts. 

In addition to providing advice in specific cases, NESH's work encompasses external activities, including the organization of seminars addressing research ethical issues. 

Such research ethics approach to social science and humanities has garnered significant trust within the Norwegian research community.