I am curious about an issue that seems to background much of our IRB discussions. As academics we have gone through many years of being reviewed/graded...in classes, with conference proposals, for publication, and through grant applications - just to name a few. In every one of those cases our research can be declined for any number of reasons from flawed protocols to reviewers personal attitudes toward us or our research. All of that being said, why do we see IRBs as more of a controlling factor on research then say granting entities or publication venues? Lois Ann Scheidt Doctoral Student - School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University, Bloomington IN USA Adjunct Instructor - School of Informatics, IUPUI, Indianapolis IN USA and IUPUC, Columbus IN USA Webpage: http://www.loisscheidt.com Blog: http://www.professional-lurker.com