What is the IRB?
The Boston College (BC) Institutional Review Board (IRB) serves as the primary institutional body to protect the rights and welfare of individuals recruited to participate in research conducted at BC or by affiliates of BC. The IRB is a federally mandated board (45 CFR part 46, the “Common Rule”. 1991) that prospectively reviews and approves research that involves human beings as research subjects. Each research study that proposes interactions with human subjects must be prospectively reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) or exempted from IRB review by the administration prior to the onset of data collection. All human subjects research, even if found exempt from IRB review, must follow the BC policies for the protection of human research subjects.
A. The IRB is a committee of university and community representatives who review all requests to involve human subjects in research. Ohio University currently has 2 boards, one specializing in Biomedical reviews, and one specializing in Social Behavioral studies. Click here to see board membership.
