Introduction

This manual explains how to submit ethics approval request in the DEP-Tool. The DEP-Tool used by researchers and reviewers of the ethical committees to facilitate ethical review of studies conducted at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FSW) and Humanities faculty (HUM) of Leiden University.

This manual is written mainly from the perspective of a researcher at FSW, so some steps may look different for researchers from other Faculties, see also the Workflows section below.

This manual is meant to be a comprehensive overview, for some Faculties more accessible quick-start guides may be available.

Accounts and Log in

Researchers and students from Leiden University can log in to the DEP tool using their ULCN credentials. An account is automatically created and no extra steps need to be taken. If you experience any issues with your account, you can contact:

• FSW: informationmanager@FSW.leidenuniv.nl 
• Humanities: researchsupport@hum.leidenuniv.nl 

Workflows

Psychology

FSW-PSY Ethics Application Flow

Quick Start Guides

To be added.

New Ethics Application

Add New study

To start a new application:

• Navigate to the button Start ethics & privacy - New and select the Type of Study. OR
• Go to the MyEthics Tab > Draft, and click on Start ethics & privacy there.
• There are different types of ethics applications, and different review policies may apply to each. For example,  Bachelor projects will generally be reviewed faster than other types.
  • Researchers at FSW can check out this flowchart  to determine which type is appropriate for your study. 

Draft

You can now work on your ethics application. 

Fields that have an asterisk (*) are mandatory to fill in (e.g., "Study title"), fields without it are optional.

On the left, you can see an overview of all the fields that have to be filled out. Fields that have been filled out have a green check mark next to them, while empty ones do not.

The layout and content of the form depends on the type of study you selected in the previous step. You can also enter the names of the Principal Investigator and internal Co-Investigator(s) who will also be able to edit the draft. 

On the right hand side you can see four buttons:

• Return to leave the draft and go back to the starting page. 
• Export to export the questions and answers in either a Word or PDF document. 
• Save to save the edits in the draft (changes are also auto-saved after a few seconds).
• Submit to submit your ethics proposal to the ethics reviewer when you are finished. Note that once you submit, you cannot make any changes to the document anymore and you will need to wait for the reviewers decision. 

Collaboration

Everyone who has been added to your draft as Principal Investigator or internal Co-investigator will be able to edit it. Once you created the draft and saved it once, they can also see the application in their drafts tab and collaborate with you. It is important to always save the draft after working on it. Only investigators who have a PhD can submit the application (i.e. students can work on the application, but cannot make the submission themselves). 

Under Review

Once you submitted your application, you and all your co-investigators will receive a confirmation via email that the application has been submitted. You can also view that message in the MyCommunication tab. 

While the ethics committee is reviewing your application, you will see the study in the Under review tab. To customize the overview (i.e. columns), click on the second symbol next to the search bar. You can add information such as id, form type, etc. On the right, you can see which version of the application it is. The first submission of your application will be version 1. If you have to revise the application and resubmit, it will be version 2, etc. If you click on the application you will be able to review it, however you cannot make any changes at this stage.

Fast-track

Revision

After reviewing your application, the ethical committee might decide that you need to revise some parts of your application. This can be due to ethical concerns, incomplete information, etc. You will see the reason in the reviewers comments. You will receive a general comment explaining the decision, as well as comments related to specific questions. You will be notified via email when the review is completed and you can use the DEP tool to review and revise your application. 

In the Revision tab, you can click on the application to see the reviewers comments and make revisions. Their comments will be in a red box, and can be either a general comment for the whole application or comments for specific questions. You can revise your application by editing the necessary questions the same way you did when creating the application. On the right, you can see that an additional button named Emails appeared, which contains all the (automatically generated) emails that have been sent to you so far. You can save your changes while working on the revision. When you are done, submit the revised application. 

Approved

If the ethical committee approves your application, you will be notified via email. In the Approved tab you can see your approved application and find the Approval letter by clicking on the PDF symbol. 

If you click on the study, you will be able to review your answers again. On the right side you will see six buttons: 

• Return to return to the previous page
• Export to export a Word or PDF document with all questions, all questions and answers or preregistration. 
• All documents to download a zip file containing PDF documents with the approval letter, all questions and answers and preregistration. 
• Emails to view all the (automatically generated) emails that have been sent during the process of your application
• Approval letter to view and/or download the approval letter 
• Linked study to create an amendment or comparable study linked to the current application 

Rejected

If your application is rejected, you will be notified with an email containing the reviewers comments/ reasons for rejection. In the Rejected tab, you will be able to see your rejected application. By clicking on it, you will be able to see your answers and the reviewers comments. 

WMO studies

Studies that are subject to the “Medical Research Involving Human Subjects Act” (WMO) must be registered on the DEP tool as well, even though they do not fall under the reach of the Psychology Research Ethics Committee. To register them, go to Add study - New - select type METC submission. You can edit the application in the same way as other types of studies, but it is important to add information about the METC approval (e.g., original application and approval letter). The process of approval, revision, and/or rejection is the same as with other types of studies.

Amendments

If your study has already gained ethical approval but you need to make substantial changes, you can submit an amendment by linking it to the approved application. For example, if you want to exceed the number of participants you specified in the approved study, you will need to gain ethical approval again. 

To create an amendment, go to Add Study and choose Amendment. You need to choose the linked application type, which does not have to be the same type as the linked study. In Choose the linked application enter (parts of) the CEP reference number of the study you want to make an amendment to and then Choose. 

The application form will contain all the information from the linked study. If some fields are empty, that information was not specified in the linked application form and thus still needs to be filled out. Edit the answers you want to make changes to. In General information is a Comments field where you should enter a summary of the changes that you made to facilitate the review of the application. 

After you submit your amendment, the review process will be the same as described in New Ethics Application. The reviewers will either approve, reject or request a revision of the application. 

Comparable Studies

If you wish to create an application for a new study that is highly comparable with an already approved study, you can create new study that is linked to a comparable study that previously gained ethical approval. The process for this is similar to creating an amendment. Go to Add Study and choose Comparable study. Then choose the linked application type and select the comparable study by entering (parts of) the CEP reference number and then Choose. 

Just like when creating an amendment, the application form will contain all the information from the linked study. If some fields are empty, that information was not specified in the linked application and thus still needs to be filled out. Edit the fields that are different from the original study. In General information there is a Comments field, where you should enter a summary of important changes that you made to facilitate the review of the application. 

After you submit your new application, the review process will be the same as described in New Ethics Application. The reviewers will either approve, reject or request a revision of the application. 

Interfaculty Collaboration

As of 2026 the DEP-Tool is in use by multiple Faculties, each with their own ethics forms. As a result, researchers from different faculties can no longer automatically collaborate on ethics applications for interfaculty project. 

If you wish to collaborate with researchers from a different university, they (or you) need to be granted investigator permissions for Faculty where the ethics application will be submitted. To do so, please contact the relevant ethics committees by email and make sure to mention the name and university email of the intended collaborator.