It’s free, it’s full of good information, and some of our IRB members have been asking about it — it’s the IRB Forum. The IRB Forum is an online resource allowing exchange of ideas regarding human subject research, regulations, and protection. As described on its website, the Forum “promotes the discussion of ethical, regulatory and policy concerns with human subjects research.” The forum is open to current and past IRB members, IRB administrators, people involved in IRB oversight, and others with professional involvement in IRB and/or research activities.
The forum is at IRBforum.org. You’ll be asked to complete an online registration form to be able to access the discussions. Click the “register” link at the top of the page to get to this form.
A couple of cautions — once you get into the forum, it’s easy to get sidetracked. You can be looking for information on one topic, and find several other topics that pique your curiosity. Also, while there’s a lot of good information out there, not everything that’s posted on the forum is 100 percent correct. Usually people jump in and (respectfully) provide appropriate guidance when needed, but keep in mind that this is one manifestation of the free marketplace of ideas, and all kinds of stuff tends to get put out there. Commenters we’ve found helpful and accurate include Jeffrey Cooper; Erica Heath; Jon Merz; John H. Noble, Jr.; and Lawrence Muhlbaier. There are others, and we almost hesitate to list any because we’re sure we missed some, but these names in particular have provided helpful information.