Practical methods with trial and error without concern for human rights were adopted in ancient times to contain and cure diseases. Ethical guidelines for public health research involving human participants evolved due to historic events, and societal and scientific development. The Nuremberg code (1947), the Declaration of Helsinki (1964), and Belmont Report (1978) are ethical guidelines that prescribe the principles of beneficence (doing good), non-maleficence (doing no harm), autonomy (right to self-determination and confidentiality), and justice (proportionality of risk and benefits) and govern public health research today. There are ethics review committees and institutional review boards in most countries and research institutions for approving, monitoring, and evaluating public health research, especially those involving human participants. Use of social media and artificial intelligence for data collection and analysis has raised ethical concerns with few guidelines on their use. Public health emergencies and international research require application of ethical considerations for equitable and just outcomes. Public health research and practice are very similar in nature. Application of ethical guidelines for research may be adapted in practice according to requirements. Misconducts in public health research like falsification and fabrication of data occur for obtaining favorable results. Indulging in plagiarism, either using others’ work as one’s own or reuse of own prior work by researchers, is misconduct. Misconduct is punishable and may have legal implications. Ethically conducted research protects the health and rights of human beings, produce robust generalizable results, earn trust of the public, and increase acceptability of public health interventions enhancing their effectiveness.