Once the submission is completed, research studies at MRC go through multiple levels of review or scrutiny before approval.
Initial Review
The initial review ensures that all required information is available within the submitted research proposal and validates the quality of documentation. Documents will also be checked so as to ensure the information provided is consistent among all study documents. If there are any concerns these will be highlighted and passed onto the PI through the system. Once all documents are finalized and updated, the study will be passed to the next stage of review which is Scientific Review.
Scientific Review
All studies apart from those that have already undergone rigorous scientific review prior to submission (studies approved from competitive grants such as QNRF or IRGC) shall be moved for scientific review by MRC. Studies may be reviewed by internal or external reviewers and each study will be scored based on set criteria. Based on the scoring and feedback from the reviewers, PIs may be asked to amend their proposals. Once a study is determined to be scientifically valid, it is then moved to the next level of review which is Hospital Governance Review.
Hospital Governance Review
Hospital Governance Review or Site Governance Review is the stage wherein the feasibility of a proposed research is validated. The site management coordinator will prepare a study summary listing and highlighting all study related sites and facilities within the hospital governance checklist and moves them along to the Hospital Research Officers. The HROs of each hospital are responsible for obtaining approvals from Head of departments of all study sites and finally the Medical Director. Once approvals are obtained from the Medical Director(s), the completed signed checklist is returned back to the site management coordinator at MRC. Once all study sites have been approved and the study feasibility is confirmed the proposal is moved to the next level of review.
Legal Review
Legal review is applicable to those research applications with agreements/legal documents to be agreed by HMC. MRC legal coordinator will work with HMC’s legal department to expedite the review and approval process. The investigator may be required to communicate with MRC properly for any clarification/change during the review process. After the completion of Legal review, a signed copy of the contract will be uploaded to ABHATH and PI will get notified that the application has been forwarded to the next level.
Budget Review
Studies which have budget are moved to finance for budget review and approval. Budget reviewers will consider the entire proposed research project, total costs, requested items and amount if required they would request the budget to be adjusted accordingly. Once reviewed by finance the final budget approval would be from MRC to the PI.
IRB Review
The final step of review for a study is the ethics review. All research studies involving human subjects are reviewed in one of three ways, Exempt Review, Expedited Review, and Full Review. The time from IRB submission to approval varies depending upon the type of review conducted by the IRB. The IRB coordinator is responsible for reviewing the submission and determining the appropriate level of review for the study as well as assuring that all necessary documents are included.
