Registration for CITI Course:

For first time users. Returning users will logon using existing username and password.

Proceed to https://www.citiprogram.org/default.asp. (opens in a new window)

1. Select “Register for the CITI course.”
2. On the “Select your Institution” panel, choose Missouri State University from the “All Others” dropdown menu. Click the “Submit” button.
3. On the "Select Your User Name and Password" screen choose a username, password and reminder phrase. Passwords must be between 8 and 12 characters long. Click the “Submit” button.
4. Provide the demographic information on the CITI Registration Page. Street address information is not required. Click the “Submit” button.
5. Select the appropriate Group (as listed above) for the type of research to be conducted. (Note: Upon completion of one group, you can complete modules in the other group if you believe it will be of benefit to your training.
   1. 1. Biomedical Investigators: Register for Group 1.
   2. 2. Social & Behavioral Researcher: Register for Group 2.
   3. 3. Do not choose the IRB Reference Resource.
      
      Click the “Submit” button.
6. For those who have already completed the CITI Basic Course and are seeking re-certification, click “Yes” on the "Previous basic CITI Completion" panel. For those who are taking the CITI courses for the first time, click "No" on the “Previous Basic CITI Course Completion" panel.
   
   Click the “Submit” button.
7. On the Learners Menu panel, select “Basic Course (Required; Status Incomplete)” phrase if you have not previously completed the CITI course. For those who are seeking re-certification, select “Refresher Course (Required; Incomplete). The grade book will open with the first module appearing as a hotlink. After completing the quiz for each module, the next module will appear as a hotlink. Continue through the modules that appear in the grade book.
   
   Please note that you can logout at any time, and then re-enter at the point where you have completed a module.
8. Upon completion of all required modules and correctly answering 80% of the questions, a link will appear on the Learners Menu page reading Completion Report.
   
   Print the Certificate report for your records and include with submissions to the IRB.

Do not print the Grade Book! This will not be accepted as a valid completion of the training.
The Office of Sponsored Research and Programs will have a database record of your successful completion of the course.

Note: This training will necessitate researchers taking refresher courses through CITI every three years to remain compliant. Ther NIH training course is no longer accepted.

GENERAL INFORMATION:

All faculty, staff and students are required to complete formal training before participating in research involving the use of human subjects. Up to this year, the University has relied on the online training program provided by the National Institutes of Health. While informative, the focus of this training was on medical research, and did not provide sufficient information on social and behavioral research, the types primarily conducted at Missouri State.

After reviewing other training programs available online, the University has contracted with the University of Miami for use of the Collaborative IRB Training Initiative (CITI) program for Human Subjects research. The CITI program is being used by approximately 165 higher education institutions and research organizations throughout the U.S. There are 22 modules in the Basic CITI course. Each module covers a specific aspect of human subjects research, e.g., History and Ethical Principles, Informed Consent, and Research with Children. Of the 22, the Missouri State’s Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects has selected 16 to be required for researchers who are conducting social and behavioral research and 17 for those who are conducting biomedical research.

Progress through the course requires correctly answering 80% of the questions provided at the end of each module. Based on a limited sample, it appears that completion of the Basic Course will take approximately 4 to 6 hours depending on the experience of the participant. Certification of successful completion can be obtained by downloading the Completion Report after finishing all of the prescribed modules.


The University shifted from the NIH to the CITI course as of July 1st. Thereafter, approval of a research project by the IRB requires that all investigators complete the CITI Basic Course. Those who have completed the NIH course within the last three years are exempted from this requirement. In the future, previously approved researchers will have to complete the Refresher Course every three years to remain eligible to conduct human subjects research.

Access to the CITI program is via the hotlink “CITI Human Subjects Training” on the OSRP web site or directly at https://www.citiprogram.org/default.asp. First-time users are to follow the directions to register and select the appropriate training program – Social/Behavioral or Biomedical. Returning to the site requires signing in with your Username and Password.

IMPORTANT POINTS:

• Missouri State has set curriculum requirements for specific subgroups of the target audience.
• When individuals log into the CITI specific Missouri State training, all the modules are highlighted plus the optional modules.
• Each module is focused on a different aspect of bio-ethics and human subjects research.
• Each module, developed by experts in the "IRB community" has an associated quiz.
• The learner can print / download a Completion Report that details the learners accomplishments.
• The learner can return to the course site and download a copy of the completion report as needed.
• The learner may complete a voluntary satisfaction survey.
• An administrator at each institution will have access to the CITI Report Utilities to view the progress of an individual learner or to download aggregate training data.
• The administrator also has access to the comments submitted by their learners about the course site.
• Users are encouraged to use several "log-on" sessions, as it takes on average, about 6 hrs to complete the basic course of  Biomedical or Social Behavioral modules. The quizzes should however be immediately taken after completing each module. Links to supplemental information are provided in many of the modules, though they are not in the quizzes.

A grade book is also provided to help users track their progress through the web-based course. Users are instructed to go to https://www.citiprogram.org/default.asp to view their grade book from the CITI website.

Contacts:

For further clarification, please call 836-5972 and talk to;

Bruce Richards,
Research and Instructional Designer Coordinator,
Office of Sponsored Research and Programs
Phone: (417) 836-5972
E-mail: brucerichards@missouristate.edu

or
Shannon Winstead,
Missouri State, CITI Systems Administrator
Office of Sponsored Research and Programs
Phone: (417) 836-5972
E-mail: shannonwinstead@missouristate.edu