Expedited Review

Certain types of research may be reviewed and approved under an expedited procedure. In order to qualify for expedited review, research activities must present no more than minimal risk to human subjects and involve only procedures listed in one or more of the categories listed below. Learn more about the different levels of IRB review, here.

Summary of Expedited Review Categories 

1. Clinical studies of drugs and medical devices only when certain conditions are met
2. Collection of blood samples by finger stick, heel stick, ear stick, or venipuncture in certain populations and within certain amounts
3. Prospective collection of biological specimens for research purposes by noninvasive means
4. Collection of data through noninvasive procedures (not involving general anesthesia or sedation) routinely employed in clinical practice, excluding procedures involving x-rays or microwaves.
5. Research involving materials (data, documents, records, or specimens) that have been collected, or will be collected solely for non-research purposes
6. Collection of data from voice, video, digital, or image recordings made for research purposes
7. Research on individual or group characteristics or behavior or research employing survey, interview, oral history, focus group, program evaluation, human factors evaluation, or quality assurance methodologies
8. Continuing review of research previously approved by the full committee a) Where: i) the research is permanently closed to the enrollment of new subjects, ii) all subjects have completed all research-related interventions; and iii) the research remains active only for long-term follow-up of subjects OR b) Where no subjects have been enrolled and no additional risks have been identified, OR c) Where the remaining research activities are limited to data analysis.