Contents
Cal Poly Pomona

About IRB

Introduction to the IRB

ANNOUNCEMENTS

24 Jan 13: Only the 2012 versions of the protocol will be accepted by the IRB.

24 Jan 13: CITI announced today that it is revising some of its training modules for refresher courses. This will affect only persons who need to renew their training.  Training at Cal Poly is valid for 5 years.  So, this change will affect faculty investigators primarily, since most students complete their human subject study within that period.  See:  http://www.citiprogram.org/citidocuments/forms/New Human Subjects Research (HSR)  Refresher Courses.pdf

07 Feb 13:  The IRB passed a new guideline at its meeting today.  It's called the SAE for Studies of Assessment and Evaluation, which allows for quicker review (exempt!) of those protocols satisfying the criteria, like an investigation of consumer satisfaction with a program.   See here for a copy extracted from the policy and procedures document.

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona) is committed to the protection of human subjects in research. To assist with this goal, the University has designated a Human Subjects Committee (also called the Institutional Review Board, or IRB) to review proposals for research involving human subjects. The Committee evaluates the research only in terms of its compliance with ethical standards regarding the treatment of subjects. While individual researchers are ultimately responsible for their practices, the Committee's review is designed to provide objective input as another level of protection for the subjects. In addition, the independent review by the Committee is of benefit to those who could be held accountable for the research practices -- the researchers and the University.

All IRB application forms (also called a protocol) must be submitted electronically to the Office of Research. Please email the completed protocol to the IRB administrator/Compliance associate Bruce W. Kennedy at bkennedy@csupomona.edu. In order to facilitate application tracking, please change the application file name to include your name and one or two words describing the subject of the application.

Remember to print off the signature page of the protocol application and sign it.  Send that to the IRB office in the Office of Research by campus or postal mail.  Signatures must be "fresh" not electronic.  Approval of the protocol is contingent upon having all signatures (PI and all co-PIs), which indicates an understanding of -- and compliance with -- the protocol contents and IRB policies. 

The question most often asked is "how long does the review process take?" It depends upon the type of review (full, expedited, or exempt). Typically, most protocols are reviewed by the expedited method which can take from two to four weeks, provided that the application packet is complete. Use this self check-list to evaluate your application before submitting it for IRB review; doing so is likely to accelerate the process.

When the review has been completed, an approval memo to conduct the research project is issued under signature of the IRB chair.

This link takes you directly to the CITI web page for coursework on aspects of research with human volunteers. Go to the section on "Continuing Education and Training" above for instructions and details as well as other training opportunities. NOTE: Training for yourself, advisor, and co-investigators is required for approval of your IRB protocol.