Principal Investigators for Protocols Presented to the Institutional Review Board

I. Policy Summary

Full-time NJIT faculty and staff are authorized to submit protocols for consideration by the NJIT IRB. Other members of the NJIT community may be co-investigators on IRB protocols as explained in the policy.

II. Policy Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to delineate which members of the NJIT community may act as principal investigators on protocols submitted to the IRB.

III. Policy Scope and Applicability

This policy is in effect for all units of NJIT and applies to all protocols submitted to the IRB.

IV. Definitions

Institutional Review Board (IRB): an administrative university committee charged with the evaluation of human subject research in accordance with federal regulations and institutional policies. The committee reports to the senior vice provost for research, but acts autonomously. IRB committee members and chairs serve on the basis of three-year renewable appointments.

IRB administrator: a staff member tasked with assisting the chair(s) of the IRB with management of all administrative processes related to maintaining IRB workflow and processes. This person is tasked with assisting and training the NJIT community on IRB processes. The current IRB administrator is the director of research compliance and services.

V. Policy Statement

All full-time faculty and staff may submit protocols for consideration by NJIT's institutional review board. Students may be co-investigators on IRB protocols submitted to NJIT's institutional review board, but cannot independently submit protocols. A faculty member acting as an advisor must be the PI on all student-led protocols (See Appendix 1).

People holding part-time or visiting appointments at NJIT may be co-investigators on protocols submitted to NJIT's institutional review board so long as a fulltime NJIT employee is a PI on the protocol.   

In rare cases, part-time employees may act as principal investigators on protocols submitted to NJIT's institutional review board with prior approval from the senior vice provost for research and the IRB chair(s). The decision made by the senior vice provost for research and IRB chair(s) is final.

VI. Procedures

All IRB protocols are submitted via the NJIT online grant management system, Streamlyne. Eligible individuals have login access to the system to input their protocol details. Problems with access or questions on system functionality should be addressed to the IRB administrator.

VII. Roles & Responsibilities

The IRB is an autonomous university committee with the authority to approve or disapprove protocols involving human subject research as defined by 45 CFR 46.

The IRB administrator is responsible for assisting PIs and co-investigators with the process of protocol submission and assists the committee chair(s) in organizing all IRB related workflow and processes.

PIs and their co-investigators are responsible for submitting and completing protocols via Streamlyne for consideration by the IRB.

VIII. Authority and Responsibility

The senior vice provost for research holds institutional authority for the issues covered in this policy. Any questions regarding this policy should be directed either to the co-chairs of the NJIT IRB or the director of research compliance and services in the Office of Research.

Related Policies and Regulations
4.2 Human Subjects Research