| IRB Meetings (full board review only) |
February 16, 2011
March 16, 2011
April 20, 2011
May 18, 2011
June 15, 2011
July 20, 2011
August 17, 2011 |
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Office for Research Protections (ORP)
The Office for Research Protections (ORP) provides administrative support to the IRB. If you have any questions or concerns as you navigate your way through the IRB process, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are available by phone (x24778) or email ( irb@bc.edu) during normal business hours. All of us in ORP hope you are surviving these challenging winter conditions and, like us, are looking forward to spring. We look forward to working with you to help facilitate a positive experience with the IRB. Institutional Review Board (IRB) The mission of the IRB is to protect the rights and welfare of human participants who volunteer to take part in research at Boston College. Federal regulations and University Policy require prospective review and approval of all human subject research conducted by faculty, staff, or students. As with Boston College's Jesuit tradition of excellence, service and beneficence, the goal of the IRB is to ensure the safe and ethical treatment of research participants.
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Latest News |
- The Boston College IRB adopted new guidance issued by OHRP regarding continuing review of protocols in the data analysis stage. If the investigator no longer has any interaction with humans or their personally identifying information, the project will not require continuing review by the IRB and, through the completion of the new data analysis form, the protocol will be closed.
- ORP has created a new form for projects in the data analysis stage. The data analysis form should be completed when no further interaction with human participants will occur, no access to personally identifying information will be needed and no long-term follow up will be conducted. This form is located with the rest of our application forms on our website.
- ORP has made a minor revision to the continuing review form to reflect this change with projects in the data analysis stage. However, if an investigator is in the data analysis stage and will have interaction with human participants or access to identifiers, the investigator must complete this form to seek IRB approval for continuing review of their project.
- OHRP released guidance on recognizing the importance of retaining the anniversary approval date for protocols. The IRB is now able to preserve the original approval date if the investigator submits their Continuing Review form within thirty days of the expiration date. ORP asks investigators to please continue to submit your continuing review forms well in advance of the expiration date of the protocol so that the approval does not lapse.
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New Procedures |
- The new Data Analysis form should be completed only when investigators are purely in the data analysis stage. This form is a brief, user-friendly document containing several simple interactive form fields. After completing and signing the form, investigators are asked to fax or email the form to ORP to close the protocol. If an investigator wishes to contact the participants after the protocol is closed, the investigator must complete a brand new protocol and seek IRB approval prior to initiating contact with the participants or their personally identifying information. The Data Analysis form can be found online with all of our application forms.
- If an investigator is conducting research using an online survey (e.g. Survey Monkey, Qualtrics), the IRB requires that the approval dates appear on the online consent page of the survey. Investigators are asked to copy and paste the IRB approval statement found on the approval letter onto the survey. If investigators need assistance with this, they are urged to contact Research Services, ITS at (617) 552-HELP.
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Reminders |
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Please use the most recent IRB forms and applications. If you have saved a copy of a form or application to your desktop, please visit our website regularly to make sure that you are using the current form. We cannot accept old forms since they may not contain information that is now required. Also, the new versions of the forms are easier to use than the older forms. -
Please use the correct contact information for ORP on your consent forms. The name of our office is the Office for Research Protections. Participants can contact us via telephone at (617)-552-4778 or email at irb@bc.edu. -
All are encouraged to take advantage of meeting with ORP during a scheduled Demystifying the IRB education series. If you or anyone you know is interested in attending an introductory informational session to learn about the IRB and the process of submitting an application, please contact Carolyn O'Connor, Assistant Director, ORP. -
The Policy for the Protection of Human Research Participants and the Standard Operating Procedures for Researchers are now available on our website. We invite you to read these important documents which contain substantial information regarding the process of IRB protocol submissions and approval. - The IRB's position on the issue of compensation for participants is that they prefer that compensation be done on a prorated basis at minimum when possible and should be in recognition of time and effort.
- Undergraduate student research may be subject to IRB review if the project meets the definitions of research and human subjects and the results of the project will be published or presented at meetings.
- For more information on how to obtain faculty advisor brochures, please contact us via email.
- A link to our newsletter archives was created on our website. We encourage you to view our past newsletters!
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