Research Integrity and Compliance
The Office of Research Integrity and Compliance at Andrews University is committed to helping researchers —faculty, staff, and students comply with all applicable federal, state, and institutional requirements and policies. Research integrity and compliance areas covered by this office include Human Subjects Protections, Conflict of Interest, and Responsible Conduct of Research. Andrews University research activities are overseen by two regulatory and compliance committees—the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for human subjects research and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) for animal research.
Failing to meet compliance may result in penalties to the institution and in some cases to the individual researcher. It is your responsibility as a researcher to be familiar with university policies relating to areas of research requiring compliance with federal, state, and university regulations. The links below will provide you with additional information on policies, procedures, and guidelines.
THE INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD (IRB)
The Institutional Review Board (IRB) regulates all research activities involving human subjects at Andrews University (AU). The board ensures that AU researchers operate within the provisions of the Federal Wide Assurance (FWA) for the protection of human subjects obtained from the U.S. Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP). It ensures the rights, safety and welfare of human subjects, and researchers compliance with all applicable federal, state, and AU policies on research activities. These include initial, continuation, modification applications, unanticipated problems, and alleged noncompliance.
The AU IRB Handbook offers important guidance for both faculty members and students. Suggested revisions of the handbook may be submitted by email to irb@xinxingjx.net, and these recommendations will be considered during the normal handbook evaluation and revision process.
For additional assistance, please contact Mordekai Ongo, the Research Compliance and Integrity Officer, by telephone at (269) 471-6361 or via email at irb@xinxingjx.net.
THE INSTITUTIONAL ANIMAL CARE AND USE COMMITTEE (IACUC)
The Andrews University (AU) Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) oversees and evaluates all aspects of the institution's animal care and use. It particularly ensures that researchers dealing with animals comply with U.S. federal law. This website provides you with information to guide you in preparing and submitting applications for use of animals in research and/ or teaching approval. Additional links and resources including required training, guidelines, and AU IACUC review meetings are also provided for your use. Click on the following link to access materials you will need to be aware of before submitting your application Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).
For additional assistance, please contact the AU IACUC Chair Denise L. Smith, PhD, at (269) 471-3242 or via email at denises@xinxingjx.net.
TRAININGS
As a university community of scholars, it is important that our research and scholarship is conducted and shared with integrity and in compliance with ethics in research. The Office of Research promotes research integrity, compliance and quality research within the university community. This is achieved partly through education and training programs provided on research involving human subjects and animals.
RESPONSIBLE CONDUCT OF RESEARCH (RCR)
All students involved in sponsored research at Andrews University must complete training in Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) available at EthicsCORE. This training is required for Honors students as well as students receiving support through internal sources (Faculty Research Grants, Undergraduate Research Scholar awards, Graduate Research Assistantships) and external sources (private, corporate, and government grants). Federal guidelines require Responsible Conduct of Research training for research funded by NSF, NIH and USDA. In addition to these requirement, RCR training is available for all interested students.
NIH CERTIFICATE
All students and faculty doing research with human subjects at Andrews University must complete the Protecting Human Subjects training (formerly labeled NIH training), which is available in English, Spanish and French. External investigators doing research at Andrews must also complete this training. For IRB applications, the Principal Investigator and co-investigators are required to submit their certificates of completion. Student researchers must include a training certificate for the faculty research advisor along with their IRB application.
VIDEOS
These videos cover a variety of topics from the protection of human subjects to avoiding research misconduct. We strongly encourage researchers to watch these optional trainings, especially The Lab.
ETHICAL SCHOLARLY CONDUCT
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Honesty in all academic matters is a vital component of personal integrity. To learn more, view the university's Academic Integrity Policy. Additionally, a description of research integrity is covered in Working Policy 2:158:2-6.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The university may grant waivers in certain circumstances where the researcher’s private holdings are determined not to amount to a conflict of interest or have the potential for influencing research results or the reporting of results. It is the responsibility of the individual researcher to request a conflict of interest waiver from the Director of the Office of Scholarly Research. This due process is outlined in Appendix 2-C of the university's Working Policy, available online here.
INVESTIGATION OF RESEARCH MISCONDUCT COMPLAINTS
In order to ensure due process, fair treatment and speedy resolutions, Andrews University will investigate all ethical misconduct complaints in accordance with the Framework for Institutional Policies and Procedures to Deal with Fraud in Research, published in 1988 by the Association of American Universities, National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, and Council of Graduate Studies. This due process is outlined in Appendix 2-C of the university's Working Policy, available online here.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY POLICY
The university's guidelines on intellectual property are currently being revised and expanded. The guidelines will be posted here once the review process has been completed.