Skip To Content

Submit an IRB Proposal

Proposals are submitted via the IRB email () with all required and supporting documents attached to the email. The subject line for the email should include one of the following: “initial proposal” or “revisions to proposal.” In addition, please save document attachments by adding your name and date to the end of the documents. For example: IRBInformedConsentForm2022_LastName_Date

To submit an IRB proposal for Cedar Crest College faculty, staff, and students, please follow this procedure:

  • Download and complete the Request for IRB Approval form and other documents from the IRB web page.
  • Student researchers should fill in the name of their faculty advisor on the application; students should work in consultation with their faculty advisor before the research proposal is submitted.
  • Students working with other students in collaboration as lead co-investigators on the same research project can list more than one name as lead researcher on the Request for IRB Approval form. One student will initiate the email to the IRB with the other lead co-investigator(s) copied on the initial email.
  • Faculty and staff researchers should be approved by the lead researcher’s dean, department chair, graduate program director, or the person to whom they directly report.
  • Department chairs’ research should be approved by another member of their department.
  • The person designated to approve the research should be copied on the original proposal email. The proposal will not be assigned to IRB committee members until an email response approving the research is received (reply to all).

Revisions to proposals: If a proposal has been returned for revisions, complete the necessary revisions and resubmit your revised documents via IRB email ().
When your proposal is approved, you will be contacted by email and assigned a proposal number.

Proposal documents to be included as attachments to the email for all types of review:

  • Request for IRB Approval – must be filled out completely
  • Research Description Supplement – this will assist you in providing the information that is requested on the “Request for IRB Approval” form. The template is constructed such that all text printed in black should be used verbatim; whereas, all text printed in blue requires that investigator to tailor the wording according to the nature of the project being proposed. 
  • Informed Consent Form – the template is constructed such that all text printed in black should be used verbatim; whereas, all text printed in blue requires that investigator to tailor the wording according to the nature of the project being proposed. 
  • Upload any material related to your proposal such as: email text participants will read, survey instruments, questionnaires, interview protocols, observation protocols, etc.
  • If you are using secondary data from an institution/organization, upload the permission letter from the entity (signed and dated by an authorized official of the organization) on the organization’s letterhead.

Requesting a change to approved research:

All substantive changes to a protocol require IRB approval before a change is implemented. This includes but is not limited to: changes in eligibility criteria, research procedures, recruitment, advertisements, consent forms and researchers’ instruments.

Research conducted at another site:

According to the Common Rule, research projects now use a single IRB-of-Record (sIRB) for inter-institutional research. That is if your research has been approved by another institution, you do not need Cedar Crest College’s IRB review and/or approval. The sIRB does not need to be Cedar Crest College, but the Cedar Crest IRB needs to be notified of the research and receive verification of the designated sIRB. The verification should include the date of approval and the assigned approval number. This policy does not apply to the following types of participating sites:

  • VA sites
    • Foreign sites
    • Sites involving tribal nations 
    • Sites for which review by the proposed sIRB is prohibited by a federal, tribal, or state law, regulation, or policy 

If your research has been approved by another institution, you must send verification of prior approval via email ().