Institutional Review Board

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Application

To conduct research on Bakersfield College (BC) students and/or employees for external organizations or institutions, please complete the BC Institutional Review Board Application form.

At the end of the form, you will be asked to submit your proposal documents to research@bakersfieldcollege.edu or in-person at the Administrative Services building, Room 151. Your proposal and documents will be sent to the IRB for review. Institutional Effectiveness will contact you with next steps.

Institutional Effectiveness strives to provide you with a response to your request within 5 business days. In general, research requests are processed within 4-6 weeks. IRB applications may take longer to complete depending on IRB review and the scope of your request. Timelines may also vary based on a variety of factors, like workloads, other requests, etc.

About the IRB

The BC IRB reviews research requests pertaining to BC students and/or employees that will be conducted by individuals or groups outside of BC. (Note: Research projects conducted by BC faculty as part of their class that is not intended for professional publication does not need BC IRB approval.)

The function of the IRB is to ensure that researchers treat human subjects according to the three guiding principles of the Belmont Report outlining the ethical principles and guidelines for the protection and welfare of human subjects of research:

• Respect for persons — Subjects have the right to decide whether or not to participate in research
• Beneficence — Research designs should minimize potential harm and maximize benefits
• Justice — Equity in selecting participants, especially in light of who stands to benefit from the research

The IRB is registered with the federal Office for Human Research Protections database (Bakersfield College IORG0009982, BC Institutional Review Board IRB00011857). Research approved by the IRB complies with the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects ("Common Rule"), Title 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 46, and Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 56.

Members