An Example of a Clinical Research Ethics Committee in Türkiye: Types of Studies Analysed, Their Phases and Investigators

Clinical studies are reviewed by clinical research ethics committees (CRECs) in order to ensure that they are conducted within the framework of good clinical practice and that the rights of volunteers are respected. Research type, department, status, scope, principal investigator's characteristics and CREC decisions were all evaluated. A total of 1044 research applications were found to have been submitted. In addition, 14.6% of the applications were clinical trials and 48.8% were retrospective studies. Of all the researchers, 50.4% of them were found to have indicated an incorrect type of research. The very low number of interventional clinical trials suggests that researchers tended to be hesitant about conducting such trials or did not have the means to do so. The fact that the applications were often submitted by indicating a wrong type of research method also signifies the investigators’ lack of knowledge in this regard.