IRB stands for Institutional Review Board. It is a committee that is formally designated to approve, monitor, and review biomedical and behavioral research involving humans with the aim to protect the rights and welfare of the research participants.
The IRB evaluates research protocols to ensure that the proposed research meets ethical standards and regulatory requirements. This includes ensuring that risks to participants are minimized, that the potential benefits of the research outweigh the risks, and that informed consent is obtained from all participants.
In many countries, including the United States, institutions receiving federal funding for research involving human participants are required to have an IRB in place to oversee such research activities.