INDEPENDENT REVIEW BOARD (IRB):

A key goal of IRBs is to protect human subjects from physical or psychological harm, by reviewing research protocols and related materials. The protocol review assesses the ethics of the research and its methods, promotes fully informed and voluntary participation by prospective subjects capable of making such choices (or, if that is not possible, informed permission given by a suitable proxy), seeks to maximize the safety of subjects, seeks to protect volunteers’ rights, and analyze the risks and benefits of the clinical trial to determine if the research trial should be conducted.

*The IRB is also known as an independent ethics committee (IEC), ethical review board (ERB), or research ethics board(REB).