Internal Review Boards

In accordance with what prescribed by the Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity (NCCRI 2018, clause 4.18), ERIM has established Internal Review Boards (IRBs), which conduct ethics reviews on research projects according to determined criteria. The core aim of the ethics review is to ensure that the proposed projects respect the interests and safety of all the parties involved and align with the ethical guidelines of the NCCRI 2018 and EUR.

As the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE), ERIM has established a total of four separate IRBs, two for each school, to support their researchers based on the specific nature of their research. In particular, the IRBs that currently operate at ERIM are: RSM IRB for Experimental research, RSM IRB for Non-Experimental research, ESE IRB for Experimental research, ESE IRB for Non-Experimental research.

The RSM and ESE IRBs may differ in their policies and practices, which can be consulted on the IRBs relevant pages on MyERIM.  According to these regulations, researchers from both schools are always required to request for an ethics assessment on their projects when their research falls under one (or more) of the following cases:

1. Research involving human subjects.
2. Collecting and processing (sensitive) personal data.
3. Potential harm to the researcher, staff and participants.
4. Potential conflict of interest.
5. Research design using deception.
6. Covert form of field research.
7. Novel or unusual research methods or tools are used.
8. Use of the Erasmus Behavioural Lab.
9. When gatekeepers (e.g., school principals, community representatives/leaders, healthcare administrators) are involved in data collection.
10. When research is conducted outside of the European Union (please consult the EUR regulations, p.2, fn. 5 for further information on this point).
11. Ethical review requested by a funding body or the journal.

Note that the decision of the IRBs is binding, however, researchers who do not agree with the decision of the Board can file an objection with the Dean following the procedure prescribed here.