Guidelines on the practice of ethics committees in medical research with human participants.

The aim of these guidelines is to offer a concise summary of the ethics of biomedical research involving human participants. In making that summary,we have drawn upon the work of many others, including guidance from other professional bodies and guidance from the Department of Health and Central Office for Research Ethics Committees, now reconstituted as the National Research Ethics Service (COREC/NRES). This is acknowledged in the text.We hope it will be of value not only to members of research ethics committees (RECs), but also to the research community and all those involved in research governance. To facilitate use in committees, all paragraphs are numbered and a comprehensive index has been provided. Above all we hope that the guidelines will be useful ? a guide that REC members will find immediately accessible, especially those without the time or resources to consult other detailed references such as the admirable but bulky King?s College London Manual for research ethics committees.