Research in nursing education and the institutional review board/ethics committee

Institutional review board (IRB) or research ethics committee approval is intended to protect the rights of human subjects. Assurance that ethical standards are met is essential for educational research and quality improvement (QI) projects involving human subjects.

The purposes were to describe the requirements of nursing journals for educational studies and QI projects related to education to be reviewed by an IRB or a research ethics committee and to identify the types of statements of approval or exemption to be included in manuscripts.

The investigators employed an electronic survey sent to members of the International Academy of Nursing Editors list serve. Responses representing 64 nursing journals were received.

The majority of journals that publish academic educational studies (n = 32, 86.5%) always required IRB or other ethics committee review, and 17 (45.9%) required the same for QI projects related to education. An IRB or research ethics committee review was always required by journals for educational studies (n = 24, 88.9%) and for QI projects (n = 14, 51.9%) involving the professional development of nurses.

Educational studies that involve human subjects should be reviewed by an IRB or other type of research ethics committee before implementing the study. Any determination of exemption should be made by the IRB or research ethics committee, not by the investigator.