Institutional Review Board (IRB)
The Institutional Review Board (IRB) assures that researchers take appropriate steps to protect the rights and welfare of humans participating as subjects in research projects. Researchers at Northeastern State University are required to have their research projects involving human participants approved by the IRB before beginning their research. Failure to do so is considered research misconduct.
All current and former faculty, staff, and student investigators (including Principal Investigators, Co-Investigators, and Faculty Sponsors) listed in a research proposal must have completed at least one institutional CITI Basic Course in Human Subjects Research (HSR) before submitting an application. To demonstrate completion of this training, each listed investigator must attach a completion certificate to Part IX of the application. The NSU IRB accepts either of the following CITI Basic Course completion certificates:
- Biomedical (Biomed) Comprehensive (approximately 3.5 to 4.5 hours to complete)
- Social-Behavioral-Educational (SBE) Comprehensive (approximately 3.5 to 4.5 hours to complete)
Additionally, for any investigator who has already completed either of these institutional Basic Courses from CITI for which the initial 3-year certificate has expired, the NSU IRB will accept either a Biomed or SBE Refresher completion certificate according to the following schedule:
- Refresher Stage 1, 3 years after completion of the Basic Course,
- Refresher Stage 2, 6 years after completion of the Basic Course, and
- Refresher Stage 3 (Biomed only), 9 years after completion of the Basic Course.
Also, any current or former IRB Member who has completed the more extensive IRB Members training (approximately 9 hours to complete) and is serving as an investigator on a study submitted for IRB review may attach this completion certificate to demonstrate completion of training.
Notice to NSU Investigators:
To access CITI HSR course content, you must first register for a new CITI account using your NSU email address.
Notice to Outside Investigators:
The NSU IRB will accept any of the aforementioned completion certificates from your home institution. If you do not have a home institution, you may register to use NSU’s institutional CITI access, but you will bear the costs of the Basic Training courses (approximately $180 per course).
To file a research proposal, first download the most current version of the NSU IRB Research Application (docx); note that the IRB will not accept research applications completed on expired forms. To complete the NSU IRB Research Application, please download the Microsoft Word (.docx) document or Click Open with Google Docs > File > Make a Copy and save as a .docx type. On your computer, input your information along with cutting and pasting all files into the document. Submit the one final document as a .docx attachment (not a share link) via e-mail to irb@nsuok.edu.
Our IRB is registered as Northeastern Ste U. Our institution number (IORG) number is IORG0003454.
Our Federalwide Assurance (FWA) number is FWA00006753 (FWA exp 8-26.2029 pdf) and our IRB number is IRB00004117 (expires 3/