Biomedical Research has acquired dimensions which are at once exciting and awesome. It raises some delicate and difficult issues of ethics which need to be dealt with sensitivity to human values and with great circumspection. While research which promises to mankind the great blessings of Science should not be stifled by too restrictive an approach, however, great care should be taken to ensure that something does not go out of hand. Therefore, any system of ethical guidelines on research needs to be cognizant of, and informed by, a sensitive balance of the risks and benefits.

The ICMR document titled Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research on Human Subjects on which this booklet is based, apart from the standard operating procedures published by the ICMR, is a landmark document in the field of biomedical research, and we have provided excerpts from those guidelines in this publication for the benefit of the researcher.

Research is a quest for knowledge; the ethical guidelines between the covers of this book strive to ensure that it is not just the end that justifies the means; the means must, too, have their own justifications.

Please click to view the Standard Operating Procedures for Institutional Ethics Committee for Human Research.