Opportunities for graduate students to engage in research and other creative activities are available and are an integral aspect of the total learning experience in all graduate programs at the University. While the various academic disciplines differ in the type and amount of research and creative activity deemed appropriate for master’s degree candidates, they generally subscribe to the following objectives:

1. Graduate students should receive training in the basic methods of knowing, investigating and discovering that are relevant to their particular academic discipline.
2. Students should be encouraged and provided with opportunities to engage directly in independent scientific and/or creative work within the framework of their particular discipline.

Students should note the specific departmental research requirement(s) for their master’s/doctoral degree programs. If a student is required, or elects, to complete a research report, thesis, or dissertation, it must be approved by the department chairperson/graduate coordinator and a thesis/dissertation committee.

Students engaged in research are expected to follow the guidelines set forth by the NJCU Institutional Review Board.

The New Jersey City University Institutional Review Board (IRB) is an administrative body that protects the rights and welfare of human research subjects. The Board was created in accordance with rules maintained by the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), specifically the Code of Federal Regulations, 45 CFR 46.101b. The actions of the NJCU IRB also follow all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations as well as NJCU policies governing the protection of human research participants. 

The IRB assures that research pursued with the cooperation of human participants is conducted ethically and in full compliance with mandatory directives. As required by federal policy, the NJCU IRB is directed by a Chair and is comprised of members with multidisciplinary expertise and backgrounds. The IRB employs a group deliberation process to assess proposed research protocols and related materials. 

All research involving human participants must be reviewed and approved by the NJCU IRB before such research is initiated. Studies that qualify as human subjects research include those in which data, samples, or specimens are collected from human participants in the course of investigation, and those which utilize data, samples, or specimens gathered from human participants at some prior time, either by the active researchers or by another party.

The policy applies to any:

• research, whether new, ongoing, or proposed, regardless of funding status and source, whether conducted at NJCU or elsewhere, by anyone affiliated with NJCU, including faculty, staff, and students

• person performing research under the auspices of another organization at NJCU

• investigator(s) from outside the NJCU community intending to perform research on members of the NJCU community or on its campus, with the additional requirement that he/she must designate an NJCU faculty or staff member to serve as principal or co-principal investigator.