Obtaining Additional Permissions and Approvals beyond the UO IRB

In general, investigators must seek and obtain appropriate permissions and/or approvals to conduct research with or facilitate recruitment through organizations, institutions, agencies, etc. (e.g., school districts, owner of a bulletin board, moderator of a listserv, etc.).

The UO IRB requires documentation of permission and/or approval when working with another organization that has an IRB or other equivalent ethics review or approval process. Documentation of this approval must be submitted to RCS prior to engaging in human subject research activities. Acceptable documentation may be a copy of the formal notification of approval from the approving body. Otherwise, the documentation (e.g., letter or email) should include a description of the relevant research activities for which permission/approval is being obtained. The documentation should additionally include the name, title and contact information of the individual providing permission/approval.

Even when working with institutions/organizations that do not have an IRB or other review process, RCS strongly recommends investigators obtain some form of documentation of permission for their records; however, this documentation does not need to be submitted to RCS.

For international research, it is the responsibility of the investigator to obtain all necessary permissions or approvals to conduct research at the international site(s). This may include obtaining both country and local/site approvals. Some countries and/or institutions abroad may have a formal ethics review process in which case documentation of that approval will need to be submitted to RCS as noted above.