This paper explores the ethical cognition state of members of the ethic committee in China. Based on the data of a random sampling survey of 11164 medical researchers nationwide initiated by the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in 2020, with 960 of them served as members of ethics committees, their cognition state, cognitive ways and related influencing factors of ethical knowledge are analyzed. More than 70% of the ethics committee members have a doctor's degree, a senior professional title and overseas experience, and 90.8% of them have read three or more related medical documents. Significant differences are found in the understanding of the medical ethics documents among the ethics committee members from different units (χ²=39.60, P<0.01). 95.2% of them understand the scientific research ethics. 98.4% of them are familiar with the four basic principles of the scientific research ethics, significant differences are found between male and female members (χ²=5.75, P =0.05), and different units (χ²=12.87, P<0.05). 90.0% of them understand the ethical review of the biomedical research, significant differences are also found between those with and without overseas experience (χ²=3.93, P<0.05), and different units (χ²=32.38， P<0.01). All ethics committee members have some appropriate ethical knowledge acquisition method. The influencing factors of the ethics committee members' understanding of the scientific research ethics include the age (OR=1.88, P<0.01) and the overseas experience (OR=1.80, P=0.06), and the influencing factors of their understanding of the ethical review include the age (OR=1.47, P<0.01) and the unit type (OR=0.69, P=0.03). It is concluded that the ethics committee members' ethical cognition is generally better than that of medical researchers, the medical institutions should pay more attention to the construction of the ethics committee. Special training organized by the unit, by the scientific research projects and the self-study programs are the main ways for the ethics members to obtain ethical knowledge. To properly intervene the influencing factors affecting their cognition of ethical knowledge can effectively improve the degree of cognition and comprehensively improve the quality of the ethical review.

members of Medical Ethic Committee in China  /  medical ethic  /  ethical cognition