Ethical review in Pakistan: the credibility gap

The concept of mandatory ethical review of research involving human participants is gradually taking root in Pakistani institutions. Based on the opinions of Institutional Review Board (IRB) members from institutions across the country, the process faces several challenges which threaten its integrity. The lack of registration or accreditation for IRBs has resulted in a wide variation in the calibre and working of such Boards. Despite the recent growth in numbers of people with formal bioethics degrees in the country, a majority of membership remains without any formal training for the work expected from them in ethical review. External pressures to influence deliberations, conflict of interest issues within board leadership and inconsistent application of review requirements all contribute in undermining the reliability of the process. Some of the most significant threats to independent and uninfluenced functioning of such boards arise from institutional leadership itself. In the opinions of IRB members, the review process has to be uniform, consistent and trustworthy if it is to gain the respect of researchers, and IRB need to be given the autonomous space to make independent decisions. Otherwise there is a real danger of IRBs being relegated to being no more than rubber stamping committees.