HRRC Announces New Procedure for Submissions

Date: October 24, 2008

To:                   Deans and Unit Heads

From:              Paul J. Reitemeier, Ph.D. Chair, HRRC

Re:                   Please share with all faculty

Date:               October 23, 2008

Effective today, October 23, the Human Research Review Committee (HRRC) has stopped accepting paper documents and files and converted to a secure, on-line document management program called IRBNet.  Any hard copy (paper) submissions received beginning today will be returned to the researcher and directed to be uploaded to our new electronic system.

To access this system, two steps are required.

1. All GVSU faculty, staff, & student researchers must register on IRBNet.  Registration is simple, free, on-line, permanent, and available immediately.  For detailed instructions called IRBNet Training Energizers, go to our website: http://www.gvsu.edu/hrrc/  Or, to register directly go to: http://www.irbnet.org

2. All human subjects research protocols must be authorized (signed) by an appropriate official from the researcher's work unit before they can be reviewed by the HRRC. All authorizing officials must register on IRBNet.

The HRRC does not authorize research; it certifies that proposed research activities comply with applicable federal and state law and research ethics standards.

i. Student led research must be authorized (signed) by the student's research advisor (may be different from the student's academic advisor).

ii. Faculty led research must be authorized (signed) by the unit head or designee.

iii. Unit head led research must be authorized (signed) by the dean or designee.

iv. Dean led research must be authorized (signed) by the provost or designee.

Two additional points to keep in mind:

1.  All research protocols must be shared by the researcher with a GVSU authorizing official (selected via search function from the list of registered IRBNet members). When the protocol is submitted to IRBNet, an e-mail automatically directs all parties with whom the protocol has been shared to login to IRBNet to review the research protocol. Authorizing officials must authorize (sign) the research and attest that it meets accepted standards for scientific merit and validity within their discipline.

2. Federal regulations require all non-exempt research records be secured for a minimum of 3 years following the close of the research activity. IRBNet secures most of the required records in electronic form.  However, all participant signed research consent forms (paper) must be kept in locked file cabinets in locked faculty or departmental offices for the minimum three (3) years. This includes all student led research.

All instructions and protocol review application forms are available on both the HRRC website http://www.gvsu.edu/hrrc/ and the IRBNet site : http://www.irbnet.org and may be downloaded and printed for easy reference. Please e-mail hrrc@gvsu.edu or call (616) 331-3197 with any questions.