What is the primary role of oversight bodies like IRB or IACUC?

The primary role of oversight bodies like Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) and Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs) is to ensure that research involving human or animal subjects is conducted ethically and in compliance with regulatory requirements. These bodies are tasked with protecting the rights and welfare of research participants and ensuring that the research adheres to federal regulations and ethical guidelines.

IRBs evaluate research proposals to safeguard the interests of human subjects by ensuring informed consent, risk minimization, and fair treatment. Similarly, IACUCs oversee research involving animals, ensuring humane treatment and adherence to ethical standards. Their central focus is on compliance with legal and ethical standards, which includes assessing protocols for potential risks and benefits, ensuring appropriate care and treatment of subjects, and enforcing adherence to established guidelines.

While assessing methodological soundness or data management training may be part of the review process, they are not the primary focus of the oversight bodies. Likewise, authorship credit is pertinent to ethical research practices but falls outside the main responsibilities of IRBs and IACUCs. Thus, determining compliance with regulatory requirements is indeed the essence of what these oversight bodies do.