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Research Ethics and Compliance Support

When applying for external funding or when submitting papers to scientific journals, researchers are sometimes demanded to prove that their research projects comply with ethical standards. SDU provides a research ethics review and approval service. A research ethics approval from SDU is an offer, not a requirement.

Get a Research Ethics Approval

To apply for an ethics approval, you must fill in an application form and upload relevant documentation for the Research Ethics Committee (REC) at SDU.

Which projects can be reviewed by SDU’s Research Ethics Committee?

SDU researchers, including PhD students, can apply for a research ethics review and approval of their projects. SDU’s Research Ethics Committee does not review students’ research projects.
Projects are eligible for review only before participant recruitment and before data collection has been initiated.

SDU’s Research Ethics Committee generally does not review projects that have already obtained an ethics approval from another ethics review body. This also applies to projects that are legally obligated to obtain ethics approval from the Regional or National Committees on Health Research Ethics. However, there may be exceptions.

For instance, a clinical research project funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) may need approval from the Regional Committee on Health Research Ethics as well as from SDU’s Research Ethics Committee.

Validity should be renewed

All approvals have a period of validity of 12 months from the date of issue. You will receive a link to an application for renewal two months before the approval expires.

Contact

For questions or comments please contact

Application form

Apply for a research ethics approval now. Fill out the form in English.

What information do I need to fill out the application form?

Start your application by going to the application start page and enter your name and email address. You will then receive an email with an application ID and a unique link to your application.

Access and fill out your application via the link. The application form is saved automatically as you fill it out. You can always leave the form and return via the link.

What you need to complete the application form

The information about the project that you need to have ready to complete the application includes:

  • Basic information about the project, such as project title, information about the responsible/participating researchers, how the project is funded, when the data collection will take place.
  • Short layman's description of the research project, in Danish. Divide it into the sections: Background (max 100 words), Research goals (max 50 words) and Methods (max 100 words).
  • Your own reflections on the research ethics issues that may be in the project.
    Answers to several questions relating to the ethics of the project.
 

Documents to submit with the application

At the final pages of the questionnaire, you will be asked to upload supplemental documentation. The documents you need to submit are:

  • Project description, 5-10 pages*
  • Information material for research participants (if applicable)
  • Informed consent statement for research participants (if applicable)
  • Interview guide, questionnaire or similar (if applicable)
  • Other documents relevant to the case
  • All documents must be in .pdf format and must have meaningful names (e.g. "Project Description.pdf")

* You must always include the project's full project description/protocol. If the REC application only concerns part of a larger project, or if the project description is longer than 10 pages, then please include either 1) a reading guide that clearly marks which parts of the overall project description relate to your REC application, or 2) a customized project description that describes only the (part of the) project that you wish to assess at REC. The customized project description should not exceed 10 pages.

GDPR-related issues

For questions regarding GDPR


Contacts Research Support

Jakob Ousager

Research Ethics Consultant

jousager@sdu.dk
60 11 38 46

Possibilities of fast track & explanatory document

Have you already collected your data and submitted your research paper? Then it is too late to get an ethics approval but you can get an exemption letter.

Such a letter explains that your research project follows the law but is in a situation where it is too late to get the ethics approval. It is not an approval but an explanatory document about Danish rules within this area.

Fast track reviews and approvals

Some projects can get the Research Ethics Committee’s approval via a fast track review. All applications are evaluated to determine if they can be fast track reviewed.

Last Updated 18.09.2024