From now on, it is possible to submit applications using the Ethiktool software (ethiktool.org) for applications in the detailed procedure at Bielefeld University Ethics Review Board (EUB) .
The Ethiktool guides you step by step through the questions relevant to your project. The software automatically generates the ethics application form and the documents for the participants in your study from your entries. A central component is the verification of the consistency and completeness of the information.
The Ethiktool is a joint development of a project team led by Prof. Dr. Alexandra Bendixen (Chemnitz University of Technology, TUC) with team members from the TUC, the Leibniz Institute for Psychology (ZPID) and Bielefeld University. Further information on the project can be found here.
If you have any questions, please take a look at our answers to frequently asked questions or use one of our presentation appointments via zoom.
The office of the Ethics Committee is also available for individual enquiries.
Projects that can be assessed using the basic procedure should continue to submit the usual form. However, you are invited to take a look at the Ethiktool and, among other things, try out or use the automated creation of the information documents for yourself. In the future, the Ethiktool will also be supplemented by a basic procedure.
Projects that are assessed in the full procedure can create their ethics application using the Ethiktool. However, it is still possible to use the existing forms. We would like to invite you to try out the new, dialogue-based application option for yourself. For the differences to the previous procedure and the advantages of the Ethiktool, see the respective FAQ.
The "Ethiktool" software simplifies the process of creating ethics applications and participation documents and thereby speeds up their review by the ethics committee. The relevant aspects for the ethics review are automatically queried step by step. The questions you are asked depend in part on your answers to previous questions. This means that the information collected is always exactly the information that applies to your research project.
At the end, the ethics tool generates the application form and the participation documents aimed at the people being studied (participation information, data protection information and consent forms). All generated documents are part of the review by the Ethics Review Board. You should later use the participation documents in exactly the approved form for the implementation of your research project. Only editorial changes are permitted without consultation with or approval by the Ethics Committee.
The participation documents and the application form are automatically generated by the ethics tool in PDF format ("Single documents" button). The individual documents are merged into one PDF document by clicking the "Complete proposal" button, which you must submit to the ethics committee together with the corresponding XML file.
The Ethiktool checks the consistency of your information, but not all conceivable inconsistencies can be detected automatically. Therefore, please check the generated PDF documents carefully for completeness, correctness and consistency.
In the Ethiktool, the relevant aspects for the ethical review are automatically queried step by step. Although more questions are asked as a result of the structured enquiry, exactly the information that is relevant to your research project is required. The questions you are asked depend in part on your answers to previous questions. In addition, aspects that are relevant for the creation of the participation documents are queried. The automatic consistency check and completeness assurance mean that fewer queries and corrections are necessary in exchanges with the office or at the request of the Ethics Review Board, which generally speeds up the review process.
In the previous form-based procedure, the information is recorded in free text form and you have to create the participation documents yourself. In the event of inconsistencies or any missing information or reflections, you may be asked to rectify inconsistencies, provide missing information or the Ethics Review Board may impose conditions in this regard.
You can access the ethics tool at ethiktool.org in a browser of your choice; a local installation is not required. Select "New proposal"; here you must first define the name of your application file. The application file (in XML format) and later the complete application to be submitted (in PDF format) will be saved under this name. You must explicitly trigger the saving process; the data of your ethics application will not be saved on the server. The application file (XML file) contains all the entries you make in the tool.
Simultaneous use by several people at the same time is not intended, as this would require the (potentially sensitive) application information to be saved on the server. However, you can easily work on the application one after the other by sending the current application file in XML format to the other project participants. Other project participants can load this XML file with the ethics tool, edit it and send it back to you. If you want to check what changes the other project participants have made, you can compare the two versions of the XML file using a programme of your choice to compare text and XML files.
If the Ethiktool no longer detects any inconsistencies in your information and you have checked all documents thoroughly, select the "Complete proposal" button. You will need to enter some more information for the submission process; the ethics tool will then generate a file with the name "[application name]_Complete application_[date].pdf". Please submit both this PDF file and the XML file from which it was generated to the Ethics Review Board; all files will be packed into a single ZIP file when you download the complete application. Please note that you may not make any subsequent changes to either the XML file or the PDF file.
Both documents (complete PDF and XML file) should be submitted by e-mail to the office of the Ethics Review Board.
Please contact the support address ethiktool@tu-chemnitz.de (emails to this address are processed via the OTRS ticket system; please note the data protection information).
Please tell us which aspect of your research project cannot be described in the Ethiktool. We are continuously developing the tool and welcome your suggestions.
Applications can still be submitted using the existing word forms.
Please load the XML file of the original research project to which the amendment relates. Change the application type under "proposal data > core data". Make the necessary changes to the content and justify them in the corresponding field of the Ethiktool. Please refrain from making unnecessary changes to the content. This will make it easier to compare the extension application with the original application and thus speed up the review process. Please use the same application number as in your original application.
Please note that amendments can only be submitted for projects that have received a positive vote from the Ethics Review Board of Bielefeld University.
The Ethiktool is provided by the Leibniz Institute for Psychology (ZPID) in cooperation with the ethics tool team at Chemnitz University of Technology headed by Alexandra Bendixen. If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact us via the support address ethiktool@tu-chemnitz.de (e-mails to this address are processed via the OTRS ticket system; please note the data protection information).
The Ethiktool checks the submissions for logical consistency. If certain points indicate ethically sensitive aspects, it asks follow-up questions or requests additional justifications, but the Ethikool does not judge if the research project can be considered as ethically appropriate. The ethical assessment and the responsibility for the review processes remain entirely with the EUB.
The Ethiktool runs on servers in Germany. The data entered for the ethics application is saved locally on the computer of the person submitting the application (initially in the browser, after an active saving process in the download folder). For technical reasons, the entries are transferred to the server during the use of the ethics tool and processed there, but are not stored beyond the period of direct processing. Short-term server-side storage is required for the generation of application documents in PDF format, but this is limited to the period between the triggering of document generation and the transfer of the generated documents to the applicant's local computer. No further server-side data storage takes place. Data is transmitted using the HTTPS protocol.
The submission of documents generated by the ethics tool follows the processes of the local ethics committee and is not part of the Ethiktool. At the EUB, please send the PDF file and XML file of your ethics application by email to the office at ethikkommission@uni-bielefeld.de
Following a successful test and introductory phase, the Leibniz Institute of Psychology (ZPID) will make the Ethiktool permanently available free of charge to all ethics committees at universities and other research institutions from the end of 2026.