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Research Ethics | European Forum

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Research Ethics

4 January 2021

Guidelines regarding ethical conduct in academic research at the European Forum

All scientific studies that involve human subjects must abide by the ethical standards that pertain to the design and management of the study, the maintenance of the study’s results, and the consequences from the study and from its publication. The rights, welfare and dignity of people involved in or impacted by the study, either directly or indirectly, must be of prime concern for all researchers. Therefore, care of human subjects involved in or impacted by scientific study must be considered in reference to scientific interest and expected benefit from the study. And whereas ethical guidelines specifically address the protections of individuals, similar concern should also be given to any and all societal impact of scientific endeavor.

Principles

All scientific studies that involve human subjects, including surveys and interviews, must be pre-approved by an authorized ethics committee, in accordance with the Hebrew University’s code of conduct in research (see, English and Hebrew guidelines). Such approval is anchored in the consideration of three ethics principles:

  • That human subjects give their explicit consent for participation in the study
  • That no measure or means of coercion were used to illicit participation in the study
  • That the privacy, dignity and welfare of participants in the study are fully protected.

Criteria: What ethics approval is required?

Study protocols and proposals must be submitted for approval prior to any contacts with human subjects. Requests for approval from an ethics committee should coincide with the following distinctions:

  • Studies for MA seminar papers and MA theses require approval of departmental ethics committee. Such requests for approval should be sent to the European Forum’s administrative office (mseuro@mail.huji.ac.il).
  • Studies by doctoral students, post-doctoral fellows and faculty members that do not require IRB approval require approval of the Faculty-level committee. Such requests for approval should be sent to the head of the ethics committee of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Prof. Asaf Zussman (asaf.zussman@mail.huji.ac.il).
  • Studies that require IRB approval and are funded by external agencies require approval of the Hebrew University’s ethics committee. Such requests for approval should be sent to the head of HUJI committee, Prof. Rakefet Cherninski (Rakefetc@hadassah.org.il).
  • Importantly, studies must also comply with the ethics guidelines of other organization or agency whose jurisdiction extends over the study (for example, of the firm whose employees are interviewed).
  • Whereas Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval is regulated primarily for medical studies, adjusted provisions apply to social science, legal and humanities’ studies. For comprehensive review and additional information, see HUJI’s ethics regulations.

Note: ethics approval is valid for 18 months following date of approval.

Submission of request for approval for studies conducted at HUJI’s European Forum

Requests for ethics approval are to be e-mailed to the European Forum’s administrative office (mseuro@mail.huji.ac.il).

Required documents:

  1. Request for approval form
  2. Consent form
  3. CITI certificate
  4. For MA and PhD students, also letter of confirmation from the advising faculty
  5. For MA and PhD students, also the advisor’s CITI certificate

In case of methodology involving interview or questionnaire, also interview protocol or questionnaire form.

Submission requirements:

  • File names must include name of researcher and type of content; for example, Ms-Smith_request-form or Ms-Smith_CITI-certificate
  • File names must be in English
  • Submission must include all required forms in a single mailing.
  • CITI Certification:
  • CITI training and certification is an online course on research ethics and compliance training. The course requires about 4 hours and can be complete over several sessions. How to access the course?
  • Enter the CITI Program website 
  • Click on New Users Register Here
  • Enter “Participating Institutions” and choose “Hebrew University”
  • Fill in the personal details required and choose the appropriate module. The course Social Behavioral Basic Research is the course suited to research commonly conducted at the European Forum
  • Press “enter” and begin the course
  • After every course section, there is a test that must be passed. At the end of the course, a certificate is issued.
  • Save and print certificate of completion!