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Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Research Protocols

Date Submitted: Jan 30, 2022
Date Accepted: Apr 22, 2022

The final, peer-reviewed published version of this preprint can be found here:

The Need for Standards Unification in Forensic Laboratory Practices: Protocol for Setting Up the Arab Forensic Laboratories Accreditation Center

Al-Mazroua MK, Mahmoud NF

The Need for Standards Unification in Forensic Laboratory Practices: Protocol for Setting Up the Arab Forensic Laboratories Accreditation Center

JMIR Res Protoc 2022;11(6):e36778

DOI: 10.2196/36778

PMID: 35767345

PMCID: 9280477

Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.

Strengthening Oversight of Forensic Science Practice in Arab Region: Protocol for Arab Forensic Laboratories Accreditation Center (AFLAC) Development

  • Maha K. Al-Mazroua; 
  • Naglaa F. Mahmoud

ABSTRACT

Background:

Despite the recent trend toward developing and applying quality control measures in the forensic science disciplines, there is a heightened interest to efforts to ameliorate disparate quality among laboratories through the enforcement of standards and best practices.

Objective:

our objective is to develop a web-based forensic Laboratories-Arabian Gate (FLAG) acting as a preliminary step for Arabian Forensic Laboratory Accreditation Center (AFLAC).

Methods:

The development of the prototype will be launched in two successive phases. The first phase is a preparatory study composed of the scoping study that analyzes the international guidelines regarding the forensic laboratory practice and the mapping surveys to collect data about the real forensic laboratories practice through FLAG (Forensic Laboratories-Arabian Gate).The second phase will include development of Arabian Forensic Laboratories Accreditation Center (AFLAC), the forensic science practitioners will be invited to go through another survey to explore their views on the accreditation standards that are in line with the needs of our forensic laboratories in the Arab region.

Results:

The first phase of our work is underway as of November 2022. We expect to have results for the first phase by March 2022. Qualitative data collection and analysis are expected to be completed by June 2022.

Conclusions:

This work describes our approach to provide a valuable tool for forensic laboratories accreditation, promote best practices and their consistency in the field of forensic sciences among the Arab countries.


 Citation

Please cite as:

Al-Mazroua MK, Mahmoud NF

The Need for Standards Unification in Forensic Laboratory Practices: Protocol for Setting Up the Arab Forensic Laboratories Accreditation Center

JMIR Res Protoc 2022;11(6):e36778

DOI: 10.2196/36778

PMID: 35767345

PMCID: 9280477

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