Apple has updated Review Guidelines for using its ResearchKit platform. The initial partners have all undergone independent ethics reviews, and now it’s about making this practice becomes standard with all future clinical studies expected to be conducted using ResearchKit.

The new paragraph in the ResearchKit Review Guidelines reads:

27.10 Apps conducting health-related human subject research must secure approval from an independent ethics review board. Proof of such approval must be provided upon request.

Including an independent ethics review board is a standard industry practice, so it’s not surprising to see Apple adding such requirement. The Cupertino-based giant wants to make its offering viable to be used across the world and silence the voices asking what will be done with all the data collected through sensors found in the iPhone and Apple Watch.

The guidelines already detail, among other things, that permission from users must be obtained before collecting data, and that parents or guardians will need to approve this data collection for minors.

[Via: 9to5Mac]