When/Will electronic signatures be accepted or integrated through the eIRB system?
Electronic signatures are already a crucial part of the eIRB system. The eIRB validates your authentication credentials and based upon your role in the eIRB system determines which available actions you will have which in the real world translates for instance to only the PI being able to submit a study to the IRB for review. Submitting of a study, in this example, is the electronic equivalent of a paper signature. Because certain documents, such as the PPQ or the HIPAA Waiver of Authorization, still require a paper signature, the eIRB cannot implement an exclusively electronic review process yet.
