Research Ethics

The members of the Department of Communication at the University of Vienna are committed to conducting their research with respect for the dignity and integrity of people and the environment. The department's Institutional Review Board (IRB-COM) is responsible for reviewing research projects conducted by members of the department for potential ethical issues prior to their implementation.

Guideslines for Ethical Research

The "Guidelines for Ethical Research" serve as the basis for the ethically correct implementation of said projects at the Department of Communication.
Research Ethics Screening

Employees of the Department of Communication as well as predoctoral researchers (after passing the public presentation to the faculty, FÖP) are required to submit their research projects to the IRB-COM.

In order to submit to IRB-COM, department members must complete the online self-assessment of the Faculty of Social Sciences (login with UniVie access data possible – contact for questions and issues: forschungsethik.sowi(at)univie.ac.at) with the required documents listed therein at least one month before the start of data collection. The IRB-COM usually reviews the research project within four weeks of receiving all relevant documents. Predoctoral researchers are further required to complete the online self-assessment before the public presentation to the faculty as a pre-screening.

Please note: The IRB-COM does not replace the Ethics Committee of the University of Vienna. If the submission is classified as research with "high ethical risk," researchers are required to submit the research project to the Ethics Committee of the University of Vienna for review.

Contact: irb.publizistik(at)univie.ac.at