Single IRB (sIRB) and external IRB are terms used to reference a formal arrangement allowing IRB review and oversight of a study by one IRB when multiple institutions have jurisdiction for the same research protocol. This arrangement is called a reliance agreement.
Most federally funded multi-site research requires the designation of a single IRB to serve as the reviewing IRB for all participating sites as of January 20, 2020. Prior to that, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) implemented a Single IRB-of-Record policy for NIH-funded multi-site research that went into effect on January 25, 2018.
At OUHSC, researchers may be permitted to enter into a reliance agreement upon request. These requests are approved by University officials, the OUHSC HRPP, and IRB. Reliance agreements are signed and executed by an institutional signatory authority.
The process for requesting to enter a reliance agreement varies depending on whether OUHSC IRB will serve as the reviewing IRB for a non-OU site or whether OUHSC will defer IRB review to an outside IRB.
See below for more information about sIRB review processes and resources.