What is an independent IRB?
Traditionally, academic medical centers and hospitals maintained their own internal IRBs to review the research of the investigators affiliated with their institutions. In more recent years, as research has moved from academic medical centers into community-based clinics, nonaffiliated (or “independent”) IRBs have developed to provide review services to investigators who are not affiliated with an institution. Although it is difficult to produce a single definition of the term “independent IRB” due to the diversity of these entities, in general an independent IRB is a review board that is not owned or operated by the research organization for which it provides review services. An independent IRB is subject to the same federal and state regulatory requirements applicable to all IRBs. A significant percentage of independent IRBs are accredited. In 1998, the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services issued a report noting that independent IRBs offer a
Traditionally, academic medical centers and hospitals maintained their own internal IRBs to review the research of the investigators affiliated with their institutions. In more recent years, as research has moved from academic medical centers into community-based clinics, nonaffiliated (or “independent”) IRBs have developed to provide review services to investigators who are not affiliated with an institution. Although it is difficult to produce a single definition of the term “independent IRB” due to the diversity of these entities, in general an independent IRB is a review board that is not owned or operated by the research organization for which it provides review services. An independent IRB is subject to the same federal and state regulatory requirements applicable to all IRBs. A significant percentage of independent IRBs are accredited. In 1998, the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services issued a report noting that independent IRBs offer a
