Education / Training
Required Educational Program on the Protection of Human Research Subjects
To provide a comprehensive educational program on human subjects' protection, Georgia State University has joined the Collaborative IRB Training Initiative (CITI). This comprehensive program is web-based and hosted by the University of Miami.
All researchers, staff, students, and others who interact with human subjects in the performance of research and assisting in research must complete a required educational program on the protection of human subjects before the Institutional Review Board (IRB) may approve a proposal. This certification process must be completed and documented with the IRB every three years.
A new protocol will not be accepted by the IRB until all members of the research team have completed the CITI training and the training is documented in the IRBWise system.
CITI certification from other institutions is acceptable provided the certification was obtained within the last three years. If CITI training is obtained at another Institution, the completion report must be provided to the GSU IRB. Instructions on how to obtain the completion report can be found here . Non-GSU personnel can provide certifications of human research protections programs that may have been required at another institution. GSU personnel are required to complete the CITI training.
Instructions:
- For registration into the program you must obtain a Username and Password. To obtain a username and password, go to http://www.citiprogram.org/
- Select “New Users Register Here”
- Select “The Protection of Human Research Subjects”
- Select Participating Institutions and find Georgia State University in the drop down menu
- Select your user name and password
- Enter your name and email address
- Click on “Submit”
- Complete the Course Registration Information
- You will also be asked to complete a voluntary, anonymous survey about the course. This will help the CITI developers improve the course and correct errors and/or imperfections.
- Click on “Submit”
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Once you have obtained your user name and password, and completed the Course Registration information, you are ready to select the “Curriculum appropriate to your research activities”.
Group 1: Biomedical Research Group 2: Social/Behavioral Research (most of our researchers are in this category) IRB Reference
- The "Basic Course" must be completed first
- You will also be asked if you wish to register with another institution. Select "No" or "Yes" as appropriate.
- Proceed to "My Courses" and click on "Enter"
There are several required modules; therefore, you may exit and enter the site periodically in order to complete the modules.
- The time required to complete each module is largely dependent upon one's knowledge base on the protection of human subjects.
- After completing all required modules, please go to the Institutional Home Page (Georgia State University). From here, you will be able to download a Course Completion Report. This "Report" will provide a detailed record of your accomplishments. A copy of this file will also be sent to the GSU, Office of Research Integrity.
The Principal Investigator is to determine which set of modules are most applicable to his/her research: Social/Behavioral or Biomedical.
Learner Groups (Social/Behavioral):
Social/behavioral research (SBR) is typically characterized by data collection methods such as questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, direct observation, and non-invasive physical measurements.
Required Modules:
All researchers, staff, students, and others conducting Social/Behavioral Research must complete the REQUIRED SBR Modules with a mastery score of 80%.
In addition, if your research involves an area that is optional, you must also complete that module. For example, research conducted via the Internet or research conducted outside of the United States (international research) would require that the researcher complete those modules as well.
Learner Groups (Biomedical):
Biomedical Research involves any type of clinical research studies, including those that involve drugs and/or devices, investigational or marketed
Required Modules:
All researchers, staff , students and others conducting Biomedical Research must complete the REQUIRED BioMed Modules with a mastery score of 80%.
In addition, if your research involves an area that is optional, you must also complete that module. For example, research conducted via the Internet or research conducted outside of the United States (international research) would require that the researcher complete those modules as well.
Learner Groups (IRB Reference)
The IRB Reference modules are to be completed by all GSU IRB members and compliance staff.
Failure to Complete the Training Modules:
Failure to complete the training could result in revocation of your protocol approval for research or other action(s) deemed appropriate by IRB.
If you have any questions regarding this requirement, you can contact the institutional IRB Compliance Officer at (404) 413-3514.