Problems with Minimal-Risk Research Oversight: A Threat to Academic Freedom?(Insight‪)‬

Although criticism of a powerful bureaucratic body is expected, your local institutional review board (IRB) might deserve a touch of sympathy, having been subjected to withering critique in recent years for a long list of sins. The observed faults of IRBs have been well summarized (1) and include inconsistency, delay, grammatical pedantry, excessive conservatism regarding legal risk, ignorance of fields reviewed, and threats to academic freedom. (2) Minimal-risk research is a particular area of controversy because the bureaucratic burden of human subjects research oversight seems severely disproportional to the potential risks of harm to research participants, as well as to the effort required to conduct the research itself. Many of these complaints are legitimate, and IRB review of a researcher's proposed study can engender anger, frustration, and stress. Unfortunately, such responses can impede an accurate assessment of both the cause of the problem and its potential solution. A particularly unfortunate recent development is the labeling of some legitimate complaints as issues of academic freedom when they are not.