Ethic reviews in humanities and social science studies in China: current status and future developments

• In Event: Roundtable Group 4
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: Comparative Dialogues of East Asian Higher Education and Multiculturalism

Proposal

Research Ethics Committees or Institutional Review Board (IRB) have been established in many counties. Ethics reviews are becoming mandatory for non-medical, including education and social science research involving human subjects (Citro et al., 2003; Hemming, 2006; Mamotte & Wassenaar, 2009; Sigler, 2009; Zeni, 2001). The ethics review process requires the researchers to understand their ethical responsibilities as well as how to protect their human subjects in approaching the research (Brooks et al., 2014; Huang et al., 2021; Zeni, 2001). Human subjects involved in the research must also develop their ethical awareness about informed consent and protection from potential risks and harms (Brooks et al., 2014; Huang et al., 2021; Zeni, 2001).
However, ethics reviews are not mandated for non-medical research involving human subjects in most developing countries (Huang et al., 2021; Koepsell et al., 2014; Sleem et al., 2010). A survey study in 2014 indicated that no Research Ethics Committee was found in 80% of the Asian schools among the world’s top 50 (Koepsell et al., 2014). In the case of China, Tsinghua University and Peking University were among the top 50 universities. However, neither the two universities established Research Ethics Committee nor mandated an ethics review for non-medical research involving human subjects (Koepsell et al., 2014). As a result, a challenge of protecting and respecting human subjects emerged for researchers who want to conduct international research in countries with no systematic ethics reviews.
This study reviews the history and development of ethics reviews for humanities and social science research in China. The study utilizes the review of the development of ethics reviews to discuss the following questions: How ethics reviews in research are formulated in China? Do the Western standards of ethics reviews apply to the Chinese context? The findings of the paper could contribute to the existing development ethic reviews in Chinese higher education as well as provide guidance for researchers who are planning to conduct research in regions with no ethics reviews.

Author

• Xi Cao, George Washington University