Starting January 2, the UAMS IRB will require prior notification via an online form of UAMS investigators’ plans to either rely on an outside IRB for review or to have UAMS serve as the relying IRB. The form can be found here. It’s short, we promise. It should be completed as early in the submission process as possible. While CLARA submissions can be ongoing simultaneously, we’d like to know about these studies before they land in the IRB’s CLARA inbox.
We’re asking for your help. While the form will be required starting January 2, we strongly encourage study teams who use the sIRB process to try completing the form now to give us feedback. We’ve already made a few changes after hearing from some users.
This form will help the IRB prepare for sIRB studies faster. Right now, the first we hear of a new sIRB study is typically when it shows up in the IRB’s prereview queue. Learning of it earlier will help us get all the appropriate paperwork started early and help us ensure that the study is appropriate for single IRB review. This practice of early notification also brings UAMS in line with most other institutions involved in sIRB studies.