Table 1 Comparison between the original and modified version of ‘Research Ethics Committee Quality Assurance Self-Assessment Tool’
Original version (Sleem et al., 2010) [15] | Modified version (Present study) | |
|---|---|---|
Number of topics | 10 | 10 |
Total number of questions | 181 | 110 |
Number of questions by topic (maximum number of points by topic) | ||
(1) General information | 0 (–) | 9 (zero) |
(2) Organisational aspects | 15 (54) | 15 (54) |
(3) Conflicts of interests/anti-bribery/anti-corruption policy | 0 (–) | 3 (zero) |
(4) Membership and educational training | 9 (30) | 9 (30) |
(5) Submission arrangements and materials | 12 (12) | 7 (7) |
(6) Minutes | 9 (13) | 0 (–) |
(7) Policies referring to review procedures | 11 (11) | 9 (9) |
(8) Review of specific protocol items | 44 (43) | 38 (38) |
(9) Communicating a decision (approval letter) | 5 (5) | 5 (5) |
(10) Continuing review | 12 (16) | 12 (16) |
(11) REC resources | 3 (16) | 3 (16) |
(12) Workload of the REC | 11 (0) | 0 (–) |
Maximum score (points) | 200 | 175 |