Screen and classify
Administrative completeness, jurisdiction, eligibility, protocol classification, and the need for enhanced screening.
Independent institutional assessment
Ethical, responsible, and accountable research.
The Research Committee provides institutional ethics assessment, research-compliance review, protocol classification, participant-protection assessment, and post-decision oversight for eligible research protocols within its approved mandate.
Account access
Researcher registration, jurisdictional screening, protocol submission, payment, review, and decisions are available.
For student, faculty, institutional, independent, and authorized partner research.
Important accreditation and scope notice
Institutional assessment within a defined mandate
The Research Committee is not presently accredited by the Philippine Health Research Ethics Board. Committee documents are institutional ethics-assessment, determination, referral, or research-compliance documents. They are not PHREB-accredited ethical clearance, CHED approval, regulatory authorization, research-site permission, funding approval, or a guarantee of acceptance by any third party.
The internal pilot handles screening determinations, eligible minimal-risk expedited assessment, and defined focused-compliance assessment. Protocols requiring full-committee, outside-specialist, PHREB-accredited, clinical, regulatory, or site-specific review are referred externally or declined, as appropriate. Administrative screening does not guarantee acceptance for substantive ethics assessment.
What the Committee does
Ethics and compliance support across the research lifecycle
The Committee assesses participant protection, informed participation, privacy, research integrity, data governance, and responsible use of technology. It complements—but does not replace—academic, institutional, site, legal, regulatory, or publication review.
Assess protections
Consent, assent, recruitment, voluntariness, participant risk, vulnerability, privacy, and confidentiality.
Review data and technology
Research data governance, AI use, cloud services, third-party processors, research integrity, and conflicts of interest.
Provide oversight
Amendments, continuing review, deviations, complaints, data breaches, incidents, and study closure.
Who may apply
Research ethics support for different research settings
Applications remain subject to scope, jurisdiction, documentation, and institutional screening. Researcher category alone does not guarantee acceptance for substantive assessment.
Undergraduate researchers
Theses, capstone projects, and comparable academic requirements.
Graduate researchers
Research papers, theses, dissertations, and graduate capstone projects.
Faculty researchers
Individual, collaborative, institutionally supported, or community-based studies.
Institutional researchers
Program evaluation, organizational research, and policy-related studies.
Independent researchers
Subject to identity, competence, accountability, site, and data-security checks.
Institutional partners
Authorized schools, organizations, government, nonprofit, and research partners.
Scope of review
Is your protocol within the Committee's mandate?
The Committee may assess eligible non-regulated research within its institutional mandate, expertise, capacity, and current accreditation status.
Scope Check · Coming SoonEligible non-regulated research
- Education, social, and behavioral sciences
- Business, governance, communication, and humanities
- Institutional, program, workplace, and community research
- Non-clinical psychology and interdisciplinary research
- Undergraduate, graduate, faculty, and independent research
Specialized or regulated research
- Clinical trials, drugs, biologics, or medical devices
- Invasive procedures or alteration of patient care
- Biological specimens, genetic, or genomic research
- Health research requiring PHREB-accredited review
- Protocols under another REC's mandatory jurisdiction
Review pathways at a glance
A proportionate route for every eligible protocol
Pathways are assigned after administrative and jurisdictional screening. Service periods are targets, not guaranteed completion dates.
Non-Coverage
For activities that do not constitute human-participant research requiring substantive review within the Committee's jurisdiction.
Exemption
For eligible low-risk activities within an exemption category recognized under Committee policy.
Expedited Assessment
For eligible minimal-risk protocols assessed by one or more designated qualified reviewers.
Full-Committee Review
Heightened-risk or ethically complex protocols are routed to an appropriate external full-review committee; they are not reviewed internally in this pilot.
Focused Compliance Assessment
Eligible cases may receive a limited internal compliance determination. Cases needing outside specialist expertise are referred to an appropriate external body.
Referral or Declination
For protocols outside the Committee's competence, jurisdiction, mandate, expertise, resources, or accreditation status.
How the process works
From institutional endorsement to post-decision compliance
- 01
Complete institutional requirements
Obtain the required adviser, department, institution, project-head, or research-site endorsement.
- 02
Submit through the official portal
Create an authorized account and upload the complete application and supporting documents.
- 03
Administrative and jurisdictional screening
The Secretariat checks completeness, consistency, eligibility, jurisdiction, and possible referral.
- 04
Classification and fee confirmation
The pathway, applicable fee, and payment procedure are confirmed after initial screening.
- 05
Reviewer assessment and Chair authorization
The Reviewer assesses the record and sends a recommendation to the separate Chair for authorization or external routing.
- 06
Decision, determination, or referral
The REC Secretariat releases the locked, Chair-authorized document through the portal.
- 07
Post-decision compliance
Implement only the reviewed version and report amendments, deviations, incidents, and study closure.
Before you submit
Prepare a complete and consistent protocol package
Research activities requiring prior ethics review—including participant recruitment and data collection—must not begin before the required decision becomes effective.
Do not make payment yet.
Payment instructions are provided only after the application is screened, considered complete enough for processing, and provisionally within scope.
Submission readiness
- Academic or institutional endorsement is secured
- Protocol and supporting documents are complete and consistent
- Consent, assent, or parental-permission materials are appropriate
- Privacy, retention, sharing, and disposal safeguards are documented
- AI, cloud service, and third-party technology use is disclosed
- Conflicts of interest and cross-border arrangements are disclosed
Secure portal
Create your researcher account.
The core submission and decision workflow is available. Post-decision reporting modules will be released in a later phase.
Open Account Portal
Protect confidential research information.
Do not send protocols, participant information, complaints, incident reports, or protected records through personal email, social media, public forms, or unsecured links.
Researcher portal
Planned services
01
New protocol application
AvailableResearcher profile, application, declarations, and required documents.
02
Jurisdiction and pathway screening
AvailablePreliminary screening for scope, risk, and the appropriate review route.
03
Payment, review, and decision
AvailableSecretariat processing, independent Reviewer assessment, separate Chair authorization, release, and an eligible certificate.
04
Post-decision reporting
PlannedAmendments, incidents, continuing reports, and study closure.