Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Librarian Actions To Develop And Sustain Human Research Subject Protection: A Pilot Global Study, Charles J. Greenberg, Sangeeta Narang

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The Institutional Review Board (IRB), also known as an Independent Ethics Committee (IEC), is the most widely adopted process to insure human participant protection. The IRB system is overburdened as human research studies and human participation has dramatically increased without a corresponding increase in reviewing clinicians or ethics staff. Librarian involvement in the IRB process is evident but uneven and unstudied on an international scale. A literature review and international survey attempted to provide professional practice context and librarian reflection on the extent of their involvement, roles, and responsibilities in the IRB or IEC institutional process. Survey results reveal that …