Institutional Review Boards
Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) are supervisory bodies that ensure compliance with ethics law.
Contents
Definition
The Common Rule sets out requirements for IRBs.
An IRB must have the expertise and professional competence required to review a research proposal.
An IRB must include 5 people at minimum, and must satisfy these characteristics with at least 1 person:
- A person not otherwise affiliated with the institution
- A scientist
- A non-scientist
The board must be diverse (race, gender, culture, etc.).
The board must have the power to disapprove of a research proposal, conduct continuing review of research, and discontinue research based on results of continuing review.