{"id":1092,"date":"2012-01-05T14:07:22","date_gmt":"2012-01-05T19:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/irb\/?page_id=1092"},"modified":"2026-04-03T14:23:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T18:23:50","slug":"irb-review-time","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/irb\/bumcirb\/irb-review-time\/","title":{"rendered":"IRB Review Times and User Satisfaction"},"content":{"rendered":"

For information on how long it is taking the IRB to review various types of submissions, the table and graph below are updated every quarter. The table displays the number of days (median and range) from date of submission until date of final determination (approval or disapproval) for submissions that reached a final determination during the first quarter of 2026. Since some review processes require that the submission be sent back and forth between the IRB and the investigator, the number of days that submissions spend in the IRB office and the number of days that submissions spend in the investigator\u2019s office are also presented.<\/p>\n

James Feldman, MD, IRB Chair<\/p>\n

Eric Devine, PhD, IRB Chair<\/p>\n

Jamie Merrill, MPH, CIP, IRB Director<\/p>\n

Review Times for Submissions that Reached Final Determination During the First Quarter of 2026<\/h5>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nNumber of reviews<\/td>\nMedian days
\n(range) from
\nsubmission
\nuntil final determination<\/td>\n		Median days (range) in IRB office<\/td>\nMedian days (range) in
\ninvestigator\u2019s office<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
New Submissions<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Full-board<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n23 (13-81)<\/td>\n23 (10-48)<\/td>\n3 (0-33)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Expedited<\/td>\n25<\/td>\n6 (0-33)<\/td>\n6 (0-33)<\/td>\n0 (0-0)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Exempt<\/td>\n121<\/td>\n7 (0-35)<\/td>\n7 (0-35)<\/td>\n0 (0-0)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The 75th percentile data, which is how long the IRB takes to finalize the review of 75% of all submissions by type of review are also calculated for each quarter. For the first quarter of 2026 the results are: 43 days for full-board, 13 days for expedited, and 17 days for exempt reviews.<\/p>\n

User Satisfaction July 1, 2025, <\/strong>through December 31, 2025
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

When the IRB makes a determination on a new submission (either approve, or disapprove), we ask the principal investigator (PI) to complete a 6-question online user satisfaction survey. This brief survey allows a PI to comment on various aspects of the review of that specific protocol. In the table below, we have summarized the responses from the surveys that were completed between July 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025 (survey response n=98, 29%). A brief description of each question is shown in the left column. The numbers in parentheses are the responses from the previous time period (January 1, 2025 to June 30, 2025).<\/p>\n

These scores are generally comparable to the previous time period. The INSPIR platform (question 6) remains our area of greatest concern. We continue to improve the INSPIR system to try to make it more user-friendly.<\/p>\n

Thanks to all of you who cooperated by filling out this survey.<\/p>\n

Jamie Merrill, MPH, CIP
\nIRB Director<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Description<\/td>\nStrongly Agree<\/td>\nAgree<\/td>\nDisagree<\/td>\nStrongly Disagree<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Q1 The primary role of the IRB
\nis to protect the rights and safety of human subjects. In reviewing this protocol, the IRB was
\nappropriately focused on this role.<\/td>\n		89% (84%)<\/td>\n8% (12%)<\/td>\n3% (2%)<\/td>\n0% (2%)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Q2 In reviewing this protocol,
\nthe IRB dealt with me professionally and respectfully.<\/td>\n		92% (88%)<\/td>\n8% (11%)<\/td>\n0% (1%)<\/td>\n0% (1%)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Q3 Given the details of this protocol, this review time was acceptable.<\/td>\n66% (59%)<\/td>\n27% (27%)<\/td>\n4% (10%)<\/td>\n3% (4%)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Q4 For this protocol, the IRB focused on helping me overcome regulatory challenges rather than just pointing out regulations.<\/td>\n86% (71%)<\/td>\n12% (22%)<\/td>\n3% (6%)<\/td>\n0% (2%)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Q5 The IRB often requests
\nmodifications or clarifications from investigators before they can approve a protocol. For this protocol, those requests were clear, and I understood what the IRB was asking me to do.<\/td>\n		75% (66%)<\/td>\n22% (25%)<\/td>\n3% (8%)<\/td>\n0% (1%)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Q6 For this protocol, I found the INSPIR software platform understandable and easy to use.<\/td>\n41% (39%)<\/td>\n40% (43%)<\/td>\n16% (13%)<\/td>\n4% (5%)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The numbers in parentheses represent the ratings from the January-June 2025 survey.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For information on how long it is taking the IRB to review various types of submissions, the table and graph below are updated every quarter. The table displays the number of days (median and range) from date of submission until date of final determination (approval or disapproval) for submissions that reached a final determination during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":873,"featured_media":0,"parent":5,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/irb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1092"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/irb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/irb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/irb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/873"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/irb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1092"}],"version-history":[{"count":52,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/irb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5220,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/irb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1092\/revisions\/5220"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/irb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/irb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}