We collect data from NSW local health districts, specialty health networks and NSW Ambulance to generate ethics and governance metrics for health and medical research, including clinical trials.
Why we collect ethics and governance metrics
These ethics and governance metrics provide quantitative evidence and enable an accurate portrayal of approval timelines for health and medical research projects in NSW.
Work is currently being undertaken to collect quarterly data for start-up times and report on all the performance of all research offices. Analysis of these dataset will identify start-up time improvement opportunities across the state.
The Metrics Manual
The Metrics Manual outlines key performance indicator thresholds and illustrations of measurement calculations.
Download the Office for Health and Medical Research Metrics Manual (PDF 1.5 MB)
Metrics program reports
Frequently asked questions
The information below should assist to understand the metrics we are collecting, and how to improve start-up timelines.
When a Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) application is submitted, research officers will assign it to a full HREC meeting if it meets eligibility and review requirements. The submission deadline for that first assigned meeting marks the start date for Metric 3 (Ethics).
If site applications are submitted after ethics approval, metric 4 (Governance) starts from site application submission date. Be sure to complete the relevant fields in the site application and project registration forms in REGIS, to confirm ethics approval has already been granted.
The site application can be submitted at the same time as the ethics application. Once submitted the site application will go to the relevant heads of departments of a NSW Health Organisation for approval before it goes to the research governance office.
The Governance Metric 4 will start counting when the relevant ethics approval is granted in REGIS.
You can submit the site application anytime after submitting the ethics application to the NMA HREC. Once you receive ethics approval, upload the approval letter to confirm your documents are final and trigger the start of site review timing under the research governance key performance indicator.
Research office websites provide HREC and site specific information. Please refer to the relevant website for the research office you are working with.
It’s always helpful to speak with the HREC executive officer or site RGO before submitting, as they can flag common issues to avoid.
If you are unsure about questions from research officers or why your application isn't progressing, reach out directly to the research office or HREC executive officer for more information.