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Office of Research Compliance

Human Subjects Research Training

Course Information

All Clemson University faculty, staff and students conducting Human Subjects Research are required to have appropriate training in the protection of human subjects in research (including continuing education every two years).

  • CU-IRB Required Training Courses

    The requirement for training in Human Subjects Protection will be met by successfully completing the appropriate Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) basic course.

    1. Register with CITI (if you haven't already)

      • Type and select "Clemson University" as the affiliated institution when creating your profile.

      • There is no fee for the courses if you are affiliated with a Clemson University project.

      • You may also click the "Register" button located on CITI's home page to create an account.

      • Clemson does not have Single Sign On (SSO) access with CITI.

    2. Login to CITI

    3. Add a course area

      1. Select "Human Subjects Research (IRB)" for the course area and click next.

      2. Select "Researcher" as the role and click next.

      3. Select the appropriate course (SBR or Biomedical) and click next(s). Then click Submit.

    4. View and choose the correct course

      • Most researchers have to complete the social and behavioral science research course titled Group 1 Investigators Conducting Social and Behavioral Science Research (SBR) at Clemson University . If you are involved with a biomedical research study, then complete the Group 2 Investigators Conducting Biomedical Research at Clemson University.

      • The basic SBR course may take 1-2 hours to complete. The Biomedical course has more modules and may take longer to complete. You do not have to complete the course in one sitting. You will need to keep a record of your login information to return to the course site.

    5. A copy of the study team’s CITI completion certificate is required for IRB approval. A copy must be uploaded into the on-line InfoEd application.

  • The Refresher Course
    CITI training must be renewed every two years. The CITI program will send an e-mail reminder at least 60 days before your training expires.
  • How to Transfer Training from Another Institution

    Researchers transferring to Clemon University have to complete the CU-IRB CITI courses. Some training courses completed at your previous institution may be transferable.

    To access the CU-IRB CITI courses, you have to add "Clemson University" as an affiliated institution to your existing CITI profile. Do not remove the previous institution's affiliation or you may lose previously completed courses.

    After adding Clemson as an affiliated institution, you have to add a course area following step 3 under the section “CU-IRB Required Training Courses” listed above.

    The completed courses shared between Clemson and your previous institution will transfer to your Clemson affiliated course list. You may have to complete some additional CU-IRB specific courses.

  • The Responsible Conduct of Research Course
    The Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) course is not required by Clemson IRB Office but may be required by other entities. The RCR course does not count as credit towards your Human Subjects training.
  • Team members not affiliated with Clemson

    Team members not covered by another institution’s IRB are required to complete Clemson’s training. They may access the training by creating an account with CITI at www.citiprogram.org and have to select “Clemson University” as their affiliated institution when creating their profile. You do not need a Clemson e-mail account to create a CITI account. (See "The Basic Course(s)" above)

  • Team members affiliated with another institution

    Researchers covered by another institution’s IRB have to complete their institutions’ required training.