Human Subjects Training

Illinois State University researchers engaged in human subjects research must complete training in the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) program. Principal Investigators (PIs) are also responsible for training research personnel on protocol-specific procedures.

Required Courses

First-time users should select the appropriate "Basic" course listed below. 

ISU personnel that completed CITI through another institution must change their institutional affiliation in CITI to ISU and complete any additional modules. Personnel not affiliated with ISU may either enroll in the ISU course or submit their completed CITI training record to REC to determine if additional courses may be required.

Educational Social and Behavioral Research with Human Subjects	Students - Class projects
All non-student researchers engaged in human subjects research, and students engaged in more than minimal risk research (Full Board Review). If you have previously completed this course, then take the Refresher course. Register Now	Student researchers engaged in human subjects research at ISU when the study does not pose more than minimal risk to the participants (Exempt or Expedited Review). Register Now

Completed training courses are good for three years.  Users will automatically be registered for the "Refresher" course prior to the “Basic” course expiring. You should receive a notification from CITI about 60 days before your training expires. You must complete the refresher version for the required course prior to the expiration date if you will continue to engage in human subjects research. Training that expires during a study must be refreshed in order to remain eligible to conduct the research.

Optional Courses

Additional CITI courses are available but do not satisfy IRB training requirements. A list of additional courses is available here.

Completion Documentation

Documentation of CITI training must be provided in Cayuse Human Ethics as part of your submission, depending on the review level. 

1. Auto-linked training - Training for research team members who are added via the People Finder in Cayuse Human Ethics will link automatically if their primary email in CITI matches their ISU email. No upload is required.
2. Other personnel on Exempt studies - PIs must maintain CITI completion documentation for all other research team members as part of the study records. CITI certificates do not need to be added to Cayuse for these individuals, except for students who will be using the data for a thesis or dissertation.
3. Other personnel on Expedited or Full Board Review Studies - All research team members added to the submission without using People Finder must send a copy of their IRB CITI Completion Records to the PI, who must upload them to the submission in Cayuse Human Ethics.

REC is able to verify the authenticity of CITI Coursework Requirements Reports and may be contacted at (309) 438-5527 or at IRB@IllinoisState.edu to do so.