Dear Researchers,

Welcome to the online application platform for ethical review and approval by the Jawatankuasa Etika Penyelidikan Manusia (JEPeM)

To ensure that USM meet international standards, the university has made JEPeM approval is required in the following conditions:

     • Whenever a USM staff or student is the principal investigator of the research and/or
     • Data are collected from participants within or from USM and/or
     • USM is the main funding body for the research

For the following types of projects:

     • Research involving human subjects
     • Research involving human samples
     • Research involving data derived from humans
     • Research involving products [biological or non-biological] which will be tested on humans

Once you submitted your research proposal it will undergo a full board review or expedited review, depending on the level of risk involved in your research. (For more information about this, please click the following link to 7.1 Determination of the Type of Review, currently on page 17 of SOP II)>

Criteria for exemption of review include:

     • Protocols that do not involve human participants or identifiable human tissue, biological samples
     • Systematic reviews and meta-analysis
     • Audits/evaluations organised by management for the purpose of quality improvement within the
        institution only.
     • Protocols that involve the use of publicly available data or information.

Note some journals require a proof of exemption. Please check with the journal you intend to publish in. If you require a certificate of exemption, please submit a proposal before starting your data collection. If you are uncertain whether you proposal qualify for an exemption, please contact the JEPeM secretariat.

If you are invited to attend the board meeting, please prepare a brief 3-minute oral summary of your proposal. The summary may include a short introduction on the subject area, study rationale, objectives and methodology etc. We discourage the use of Powerpoint slides. The invitation to attend is usually to clarify issues in the submitted proposal. Following this, you are required to make the necessary corrections to you proposal. Please be aware that the corrected proposal must be resubmitted within 40 days from the date of the modification/correction letter.

Click here to proceed to the application process.

JEPeM Processing Fee

Commencing January 2021, JEPeM has implemented processing fees which must be paid in full upon submission of the application in order for the application to be processed. The fees are as follows:

i. For Industry Sponsor Clinical Trials, the fee is RM 3000. This is a one-off payment which covers the entirety of the EC approval of the same application (amendment, continuing review, SAE, protocol deviation, etc).

ii. For other sponsor (foreign university, private institution, etc) the fee is RM 750. This is a one-off payment which covers the entirety of the EC approval of the same application (amendment, continuing review, SAE, protocol deviation, etc).

iii. For non-USM independent researchers (staff/student), the fee is RM 750. This is a one-off payment which covers the entirety of the EC approval of the same application (amendment, continuing review, SAE, protocol deviation, etc).