Salisbury University students on campus

The Mission of the Salisbury University Institutional Review Board

Mission

  • Protect the rights and welfare of human subjects who participate in research conducted by faculty, staff, and students of Salisbury University. The SU IRB follows the basic ethical principles of respect for persons, beneficence, and justice as set forth in the Belmont Report. These principles are codified in 45 Code of Federal Regulations Part 46, subparts A-D - Protection of Human Subjects.
  • Independently assess and evaluate the risks and benefits of proposed research, and ensure that risks to human subjects are kept to an absolute minimum and are justified by potential benefits of the research.
  • Ensure the confidentiality of information obtained from research subjects to the extent allowed by law.
  • Ensure that, where appropriate, an Informed Consent or Informed Consent and Health Information Use and Disclosure Authorization are obtained from each research subject.
  • Facilitate high quality research at Salisbury University.
  • Create a cooperative process, encouraging dialogue with researchers.
  • Comply with applicable state and federal privacy laws.

Responsibilities

The Salisbury University IRB operates under the principles of The Belmont Report. The Belmont Report exists because of the unfortunate history of unethical research conducted on human subjects. It clearly explains the three principles that are the main tools that all IRB members should use to evaluate the ethics of specific research proposals.

  • Respect for Persons is the first principle which mandates that subjects voluntarily consent to participate in research, that they are adequately and thoroughly informed about the research and what is required, and that their privacy and confidentiality are protected.
  • Beneficence is the second principle which mandates the risks of research are justified by potential benefits to the individual or society and that those risks are minimized.
  • Justice is the third and final principle which mandates the equitable distribution of risks and benefits among those who may benefit from the research, meaning that one subset of a population should not take on all the burden of risk and reap all of the rewards; risks and rewards should be applicable and available to all subsets of a community.