CITI Training

Federal Regulations and NSU policy require that for studies involving human subjects, all research personnel must undergo training to ensure the protection of research subjects. Research personnel includes investigators (principal and co-) as well as members of the research team (research assistants) who will be interacting with human subjects or will be handling data (even if they do not interact with the human subjects).

The NSU IRB will only accept human subject training through the Collaborative IRB Training Initiative Program (CITI). All research personnel must complete the CITI: Human Subjects Research Course. This course provides foundational training in human subjects research and includes the historical development of human subject protections, ethical issues, and current regulatory and guidance information.

All NSU affiliates (students, staff, faculty) are required to take the NSU CITI Human Subjects Training course. All non-NSU affiliated researchers (co-investigators, research assistants, coordinators, etc.) may either complete this training with their home institution or they can complete the course for the college or academic unit with whom they are collaborating.

There are two CITI Human Subjects Training options available for NSU researchers (students, staff, faculty)*. Regardless of research focus, researchers are required to complete the course assigned to their Center/College, no exceptions.

Select and complete the course assigned to your Center/College based on the information provided below. Only one of the courses needs to be completed.

• Group 1: Biomedical (HPD) Researchers
  • All researchers in a department within the Health Professions Division (HPD), are required to register for this course.
  • This includes the following colleges/academic units:
    • College of Allopathic Medicine
    • College of Dental Medicine
    • College of Health Care Sciences
    • College of Nursing
    • College of Optometry
    • College of Osteopathic Medicine
    • College of Pharmacy
    • Graduate Medical Education (GME)
• Group 2: Social-Behavioral-Educational (non-HPD) Researchers
  • All researchers that are NOT in a department within the Health Professions Division (HPD), are required to register for this course.
  • This includes the following colleges/academic units:
    • Center for Human Development
    • College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
    • College of Business and Entrepreneurship
    • College of Education
    • College of Engineering and Computing
    • College of Law
    • College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography
    • College of Psychology

*All non-NSU affiliated researchers (co-investigators, research assistants, coordinators, etc.) may either complete CITI Human Subjects Training with their home institution or they can complete the NSU course for the Center/College with whom they are collaborating.

The CITI Human Subjects Training is the only course required by the IRB, however, there may be other requirements set by other NSU departments relating to your area of study. Contact the head of that department, college, or academic unit for additional information.

The CITI Human Subjects Training must be completed prior to beginning the Researcher Qualification xForm and New Protocol Submission xForm in IRBManager. 

This training must be re-certified in CITI every 3 years, for as long as the researcher is working with human subjects and/or their data. It may be re-certified once via a Refresher Course for an additional 3 years, after which, researchers will have to retake the full course. Researchers will not be eligible to take the refresher course for any training completed prior to July 30, 2018 because the course was updated to meet new training requirements.

The CITI Program is a free training service offered to all researchers conducting human subjects research in affiliation with NSU. This includes NSU students, faculty, and staff along with researchers from other institutions who may be working with NSU researchers. If you are prompted to pay for the training, please follow the instructions below to remove this fee.

Instructions to Remove CEUs Fee

1. Log into your CITI account at https://about.citiprogram.org/en/homepage/
2. On the main menu click on “CEUs” located at the top.
3. Select “No” under the heading “My CE Credit Status”.
4. Scroll to bottom of page and click “Submit”.

If you are still prompted to pay after following the above steps, please contact Crystal Bass at 954-262-5376 for guidance on how to correctly remove this fee.

To be directed to the CITI website, please click the following link: https://about.citiprogram.org

Please click on the link below to download instructions for creating a CITI account and register for correct course.

• Instructions on how to create a new CITI account

This is a separate system from NSU so your NSU login will not work. When you register you will be asked to create your own login and password.

If you already have a CITI account but are not affiliated with NSU, there is no need to create a new account. CITI allows researchers to affiliate and complete CITI training with multiple institutions. Please click on the link below to download instructions for affiliating your CITI account with NSU.

• Affiliating with NSU in CITI

Please make sure to register for the correct CITI training course. Only 'Human Research' training courses will be accepted for the human participants protection training requirement. Other courses such as Lab Animal (IACUC), Responsible Conduct of Research Gradebook (RCR), CITI Good Clinical Practice (GCP), or Conflicts of Interest DO NOT meet the requirement for human participants protection training.

See 'Which CITI Human Subjects Training Course do I need to take?' below to determine the correct course for your college. Members of the research team who are not affiliated with NSU must complete the modules within the same learner group as the Principal Investigator on the study.

Click on the link below to download instructions for adding the required IRB training course in CITI. These instructions are for users who already have created a CITI account.

• Adding the Required IRB Training Course in CITI

Below are examples of the CITI Human Subjects Completion Reports for the two courses accepted by the IRB. These are examples and yours may differ slightly from what is shown below.

Group 1: Biomedical (HPD) Researchers Completion Report EXAMPLE

Group 2: Social-Behavioral-Educational (non-HPD) Researchers Completion Report EXAMPLE

1. Log into your CITI account at https://www.citiprogram.org/.
2. Under Institutional Courses, click on 'View Courses' next to Nova Southeastern University.
3. Scroll down to your completed course.
4. Click on 'View - Print - Share Record'.
5. Under heading 'Completion Report' click 'View / Print'. This will open a PDF document that you can then save for future use.

 If you still have difficulties printing out your completion report, please contact Crystal Bass at 954-262-5376 or email at cb1691@nova.edu so that she can assist you.

NOTE: Save a copy of the CITI Completion Report upon completion of CITI training, as this is a required attachment to your Researcher Qualification xForm in IRBManager. Do not attach the Completion Certificate, as it will not be accepted.

Investigators are encouraged to consult with their College Representative if they have any questions regarding the CITI training required for their college or center.

For login issues and other CITI queries, please contact Crystal Bass during normal university business hours, Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm at 954-262-5376 or email at cb1691@nova.edu.