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IRB General Information

All Belmont University faculty, staff, and students proposing to conduct research involving human participants must submit an application for IRB review and receive approval from the IRB before beginning any research. The Axiom Mentor online application portal should be used to submit all IRB applications (exempt, expedited, and full). The online application portal can be accessed at https://www.axiommentor.com/login/axlogin.cfm?i=belmont  (The institution ID is “Belmont” and you will use your MyBelmont credentials to access the system.)

Several Reminders

Protection of Human Subjects Training

• The Belmont University IRB, in conformity with federal regulations, requires all principal investigators (PIs), co-PIs, including student researchers, and faculty who are advising or affiliated with student research to complete training in the ethics of research involving human subjects through the CITI Program. Information about accessing the training modules can be found at http://www.belmont.edu/irb/policies/citi-training.html.
• After successful completion of this training, certificates will automatically be transferred from CITI to our Axiom Mentor system; therefore, you do not need to upload your certificate of completion.
• The Mentor system will automatically block protocol submission if the PI has not completed the CITI training. Additionally, reviewers check to see that all co-PIs and faculty advisors have completed the training. The protocol review will not start until all affiliated PIs and faculty have completed the training.  

Protocol and Consent Templates

Please  be sure to use the most current templates for the application and consent processes. These forms can be found on the IRB webpage, Forms tab (http://www.belmont.edu/irb/forms-instructions.html). If outdated forms are used, PIs will be asked to resubmit using the correct form templates.

Faculty Advisor Approval

Faculty advisors must indicate approval of students’ applications in the Mentor system before the review process can begin. Before indicating approval in Mentor, faculty advisors are required read and sign the application protocol.

Belmont IRB Webpage

Please be sure to visit our webpage for more information. http://www.belmont.edu/irb/

Review Process

Applications for exempt and expedited projects are reviewed on a rolling basis (first come, first serve) and are reviewed across fall, spring, and summer terms, except during scheduled university breaks and holidays (see *** below).

Exempt and expedited applications are assigned for review to individual IRB members and final approval is made by the IRB committee chair. The initial review of exempt and expedited applications should occur within 10 business days of submission. If there are revisions, the total time for review could be longer, so principal investigators should plan accordingly.

*** In order for reviews to be completed prior to winter break, exempt and expedited protocols should be submitted 10 business days before the last day of classes. Protocols submitted after this time line will be reviewed at the beginning of the spring semester.

Full board reviews will take approximately six weeks. These reviews are very in depth and typically require a substantial amount of work between the IRB committee and the principal investigator.  Applications for full board review are due six weeks prior to the next scheduled IRB Committee meeting. Please remember that full board reviews are not conducted during the summer. See below for deadlines and see the IRB webpage, Protocol Review Process and Timelines tab, for more information the full committee review process (http://www.belmont.edu/irb/process-timelines.html).

If faculty or staff think that they will be submitting an application that requires full review, please send an email to irb@belmont.edu to alert us that a full application is in the process of being completed so that we can assist you in a timely review.