Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences

Submission Dates and Timeframes for Review

All faculty, staff and student led research projects involving human subjects/participants must be reviewed by the Oberlin College Institutional Review Board prior to beginning a study.

All students participating in course based or independent research MUST take the appropriate CITI course training before submitting an IRB protocol.  Instructions on how to take the course can be found in the training tab of the IRB website.

Please use the application forms for: 1) review by full committee, 2) blanket exemption for class projects, 3) renewal of an existing protocol and 4) amendment of an existing protocol, which are provided on the IRB site as they are the most current and have instructions on the what information is needed for the review. For additional information please contact the IRB chair (Michael.Parkin@oberlin.edu; x58410). 

Note that supervisors are responsible for student projects and for insuring students submit final revisions.  Final revisions should go directly to the IRB chair at ocirb@oberlin.edu from the faculty supervisor’s email address.

Applications for review are due on Thursdays, no later than 3PM on the dates below (late applications will be reviewed with the next cycle of applications).

Application due dates
  • September 5
  • September 19
  • October 3
  • October 24
  • October 31
  • November 14
  • November 28
  • December 12
  • January 2
  • January 16
  • January 30
  • February 13
  • February 27
  • March 13
  • March 27
  • April 10
  • April 24
  • May 8
  • May 22

Important Changes to IRB

On January 21, 2019 the “Final Common Rule” went into effect. What this means for Oberlin: Faculty conducting oral history research are not required to submit an IRB protocol to the Committee. However, all student research with human participants MUST be reviewed by IRB.  (Please see the definition of oral history research here-data collection by interview is NOT synonymous with oral history). 

Effective for research beginning on or after April 15th, 2019, any student engaging in research with human subjects are required to complete online CITI Training for human participant research. Details are available on the IRB website. This training is free. Faculty and Staff are also encouraged to take the CITI training courses.