IRBs Ignore South Africans' Concerns

Leslie London and Helen Macdonald, both of the University of Cape Town, complain that funding institutions in North America and Europe solicited their advice but then showed “little regard for local ethical practices in South Africa.”

[Leslie London and Helen Macdonald, “Transnational Excursions: The Ethics of Northern Anthropological Investigations Going South," ResearchGate, 2014.]

Journal Retracts Interview-Based Article for Lack of IRB Approval

Retraction Watch reports that Social Science & Medicine has retracted an article based on interviews with Costa Rican healthcare providers, apparently because it did not receive the IRB approval it claimed.

[“Social Sciences Paper Retracted for Lack of Ethical Approval.” Retraction Watch, February 25, 2013. http://retractionwatch.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/social-sciences-paper-retracted-for-lack-of-ethical-approval/; Goldade, Kate, and Kolawole S. Okuyemi. “RETRACTED: Deservingness to State Health Services for South–South Migrants: A Preliminary Study of Costa Rican Providers’ Views.” Social Science & Medicine 74, no. 6 (March 2012): 882–886. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.06.045.]

Minimal Risk Approval: 27 months, $170,000

A team of health services researchers found that getting approval for a minimal risk study took 27 months and consumed $170,000 in staff time.

[Laura A. Petersen, Kate Simpson, Richard SoRelle, Tracy Urech, and Supicha Sookanan Chitwood, "How Variability in the Institutional Review Board Review Process Affects Minimal-Risk Multisite Health Services Research," Annals of Internal Medicine 156, no. 10 (May 15, 2012): 728–735. h/t Human Subject News.]