PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - E Angell AU - M Dixon-Woods TI - Do research ethics committees identify process errors in applications for ethical approval? AID - 10.1136/jme.2008.025940 DP - 2009 Feb 01 TA - Journal of Medical Ethics PG - 130--132 VI - 35 IP - 2 4099 - http://jme.bmj.com/content/35/2/130.short 4100 - http://jme.bmj.com/content/35/2/130.full SO - J Med Ethics2009 Feb 01; 35 AB - We analysed research ethics committee (REC) letters. We found that RECs frequently identify process errors in applications from researchers that are not deemed “favourable” at first review. Errors include procedural violations (identified in 74% of all applications), missing information (68%), slip-ups (44%) and discrepancies (25%). Important questions arise about why the level of error identified by RECs is so high, and about how errors of different types should be handled.