CITI Training

All researchers including faculty, students, and staff conducting human subjects research must complete online Human Subjects training available through CITI (Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative) at citiprogram.org. This training is required for all types of IRB applications, including minor modifications.

CITI certification must be renewed every three years. CITI certification must be maintained current throughout the human subjects research; from recruitment of the participants to analysis of data. Each course has a set of modules that must be completed with an overall score of 80%. CITI will issue “completion certificate” for each course completed. See instructions for CITI training below.

Please upload a copy of the completion certificates for all researchers (including student assistants) involved in the research project in IRBNet. If you are a student, please upload the completion certificate for yourself and your faculty advisor. 

Instructions for CITI Training:

1. Go to CITI Program. 
2. In the top-right corner, click Log In.
3. Select Log In Through My Organization and search for California State University San Marcos.
4. Click Continue, and use your campus credentials to log in using the single sign-on (SSO) feature. You do not need to create an account if you already have a CSUSM-affiliated email.
5. Once you are logged in, under Institutional Courses, click View Courses next to where it says California State University San Marcos.
6. Click Add a Course. Scroll down and answer Question 1 through 4.
   • If you are not doing lab animal research, leave question 2 blank.
   • If you are a student researcher, or you are faculty member affiliated with the School of Education: Select 'Social and Behavioral Responsible Conduct of Research Course' on question 3.
     • This course is mandatory, and student submissions that do not include this additional certificate will not be processed until it is included.
   • Leave question 4 blank. Based on this questionnaire, most students and faculty will do the "Social & Behavioral Research - Basic/Refresher" course unless you are in Nursing or Kinesiology.
7. Click on the name of the course that appears under California State University San Marcos shell to start your training. Each course can take up to 4 hours to complete. You can always log out and come back later to work on the modules listed under each course. 
8. Once you successfully completed courses, and "passed", click on "Print Report" for each course and save the report as a pdf and upload it to IRBNet with your application.