St. Olaf Federalwide Assurance
45 CFR 46: Federal regulations for the protection of human subjects
Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP)
Belmont Report on Ethical Principles for the Protection of Human Subjects
Requirements for IRB membership are described here. The IRB includes scientists and nonscientists, defined as follows by the Office of Human Rights Protections:
Scientist/Nonscientist – Members whose training, background, and occupation would incline them to view scientific activities from the standpoint of someone within a behavioral or biomedical research discipline should be considered a scientist, while members whose training, background, and occupation would incline them to view research activities from a standpoint outside of any biomedical or behavioral scientific discipline should be considered a nonscientist. In addition, the IRB must have members with sufficient knowledge of the specific scientific discipline(s) relevant to the research that it reviews.