1) A document that provides the background, rationale, and objective(s) of a biomedical research project and describes its design, methodology, and organization, including ethical and statistical considerations. Some of these considerations may be provided in other documents referred to in the protocol.
WHO, Operational Guidelines for Ethics Committees That Review Biomedical Research, Geneva 2000, TDR/PRD/ETHICS/ 2000, p. 22
2) A document that describes the objective(s), design, methodology, statistical considerations, and organization of a trial. The protocol usually also gives the background and rationale for the trial, but these could be provided in other protocol referenced documents.
International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH) – Guideline for Good Clinical Practice (GCP) E6 (R1), art. 1.44
