CITI Training Information and Instructions

In support of the university’s commitment to research ethics and compliance with human subjects research regulations, JHU requires all principal investigators (PIs) and research team members to complete human subjects research training offered by the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) and to have a valid training completion certificate on file prior to submission of applications for Homewood Institutional Review Board (HIRB) approval.

Please note the following:

  • CITI training remains valid for five years after completion. After five years, researchers must complete refresher training.
  • CITI training does not have to be completed all at once; users can pause and return to the course as needed.
  • The minimum passing aggregate score for the quizzes is 80%. Users may repeat any quiz in which they would like to improve their scores.
  • Upon successful completion of a CITI training course, users will have access to an individualized certificate in the CITI platform that must be uploaded into eHIRB, the Homewood IRB’s electronic platform for human subjects research applications and ongoing compliance.
  • The CITI platform and eHIRB are not integrated; users must manually upload their CITI training completion certificate to their user profile in eHIRB. All new and existing users who need instructions for documenting training completion in the eHIRB platform should scroll down and review the information provided under Uploading Training Certificates to eHIRB.

For questions about CITI training, please reach out to HIRB staff by emailing [email protected].

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Attention Researchers: Take the Correct CITI Course!

The Homewood IRB serves researchers affiliated with the following schools: the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, the Whiting School of Engineering, the School of Education, Carey Business School, the School of Advanced International Studies, the School of Government and Policy, and the Peabody Institute.

Researchers who are primarily affiliated with these schools must complete the Social & Behavioral Research – Basic or Refresher course under the requirements set by Johns Hopkins University. All researchers must first take the Basic Course. After five years, the Refresher course is required.

The Homewood IRB will not accept CITI training courses taken through Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions OR courses taken under the requirements of another college or university.

New JHU CITI Users

New JHU CITI users who do not already have a JHU-affiliated CITI account should scroll down and follow the New User Instructions to learn more about creating a JHU-affiliated CITI account and enrolling in the Social & Behavioral Research – Basic training course required by the Homewood IRB.

Existing JHU CITI Users

Existing JHU CITI users who already have a JHU Homewood Schools-affiliated CITI account should scroll down and follow the Existing User Instructions to learn more about enrolling in the Social & Behavioral Research Basic or Refresher training as required by the Homewood IRB.

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CITI Training Instructions

New User Instructions: Creating an Account & Enrolling in Training

Step 1: Visit https://about.citiprogram.org/ and click the “Register” button.

Step 2: Click the “Select Your Organizational Affiliation” button and type in “Johns Hopkins University.” Do not select “Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Heath” or “Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions (SSO)” as you will not be routed to the correct screens. Agree to the terms of service, affirm affiliation, and click the “Create a CITI Program account” button.

Step 3: Enter the basic information requested (name, JHU email address, secondary email address) and create a username and password as directed. (Please retain this information as it will be required to log back into the CITI platform.) Information about continuing education (CE) credits will also be provided, and researchers can opt to receive CE credits for their own professional purposes if desired.

Step 4: Continue entering the basic information until the Enrollment page appears. Select “Yes, I need to take the training in Human Subjects Research (Homewood Institutional Review Board (IRB) training).” and click the “Next” button.

Step 5: On the next page, select “NO, I have NOT completed the Basic Course in the Protection of Human Research Subjects in the past.” and click the “Next” button.

Step 6: On the next page, select “Social & Behavioral Research Investigators: Choose this group to satisfy CITI training requirements for investigators and staff involved primarily in Social and Behavioral research with human subjects.” and click the “Next” button.

Step 7: On the next page, view the options for Good Clinical Practice (GCP) training and select an option. HIRB only requires Good Clinical Practice training for researchers whose studies are clinical trials. Researchers not conducting clinical trials may select “No, thanks.”

Step 8: Select “Finalize Registration.” An automated email will be sent to the email address provided during registration to complete the enrollment process.

Step 9: Log into the CITI platform using the link and instructions provided via the automated email.

Step 10: On the login page, click the “View Courses” button next to the “Johns Hopkins University” listing.

Step 11: Under the “Courses Ready to Begin” heading, click the blue “Start Now” button on “Social & Behavioral Research – Basic/Refresher Stage 1 – Basic Course”.

Step 12: Once the course has been successfully completed, review the Uploading Training Certificates to eHIRB dropdown below for instructions on providing documentation of training completion to HIRB.

Existing User Instructions: Enrolling in New/Refresher Training

Step 1: Visit https://about.citiprogram.org/ and click the “Log In” button. Log in with your existing credentials

Step 2: On the login page, click the “View Courses” button next to the “Johns Hopkins University” listing.

Step 3: On the next page, determine the correct next steps based on the two different situations described below.

Situation 1:
Researcher has not yet completed “Social & Behavioral Research – Basic/Refresher Stage 1 – Basic Course”

  • After clicking “View Courses, “check under the “Courses Ready to Begin” heading on the next page. If “Social & Behavioral Research – Basic/Refresher Stage 1 – Basic Course” is listed, click the blue “Start Now” button.
  • If “Social & Behavioral Research – Basic/Refresher Stage 1 – Basic Course” is not listed under the “Courses Ready to Begin” heading, click the “Add a Course” link in the Learner Tools for Johns Hopkins University box, then expand the New User Instructions dropdown above and follow the instructions starting at Step 4.

Situation 2:
Researcher has already completed the Basic course and needs to take refresher training

  • Check under the “Courses Ready to Begin” heading. If “Social & Behavioral Research – Basic/Refresher Stage 2 – Refresher Course” is listed, click the “Start Now” button.
  • If “Social & Behavioral Research – Basic/Refresher Stage 2 – Refresher Course” is not listed under the “Courses Ready to Begin” heading, click the “Add a Course” link in the Learner Tools for Johns Hopkins University box, check the box for “Yes, I need to take the training in Human Subjects Research (Homewood Institutional Review Board (IRB) training), and click “Next.”
  • On the next page, select “Yes. I have completed the CITI Basic Course previously. It is time for me to complete the Refresher Course” and click “Next.”
  • On the next page, select “Social & Behavioral Research Investigators” and click “Next.”
  • On the next page, view the options for Good Clinical Practice (GCP) training and select an option. HIRB only requires Good Clinical Practice training for researchers whose studies are clinical trials. Researchers not conducting clinical trials may select “No, thanks” and click “Next.”
  • Now back at the beginning, the “Social & Behavioral Research – Basic/Refresher Stage 2 – Refresher Course” will be listed under “Courses Ready to Begin”. Start the course by clicking the “Start Now” button.

Step 4: Once the desired course has been successfully completed, review the Uploading Training Certificates to eHIRB dropdown below for instructions on providing documentation of training completion to HIRB.

Uploading Training Certificates to eHIRB

Step 1: Once the training course has been completed, while logged into the CITI platform, click on the “My Records” tab at the top of the page. Look for the course for which training documentation needs uploaded to eHIRB, and click “View-Print-Share” under the Completion Record for that course. Please note: This example references the Basic Course, but the steps are the same for the Refresher Course.

Step 2: On the next page, click the blue “View/Print” button in the Completion Certificate section.

Step 3: The completion certificate will open in the web browser. Download the certificate.

Step 4: Open eHIRB and once logged in, click the user greeting on the top right side of the page. Select “My Profile.”

Step 5: On the Properties tab of the user page, under “HSR Training Certificate,” click the grey “+Add” button and upload the certificate that was downloaded from CITI. Click the blue “OK” button, ensure the certificate was added correctly, and click the next blue “OK” button. The certificate has been added!