As a graduate student at West Virginia University, you are required to meet particular federal and university-wide standards regarding the responsible conduct of research (RCR). To meet these standards, all graduate students take PHAR 758 – Ethical and Regulatory Aspects of Clinical Research course in their first semester at WVU. This course covers the required topics specified by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In addition, you must complete an online RCR course offered by the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI). You can take the course any time after receipt of your acceptance, but it must be completed within 30 days of the beginning of your initial semester- the passing grade is 80%. Failure to do so may affect your status within the College and the University in general.

The Office of Research Integrity and Compliance (ORIC) will publish a training list derived from the CITI website database of those who have taken the training. This list will be published daily on the ORIC website (http://oric.research.wvu.edu) in the “Training Lists” section. To remain in compliance with NIH standards, you will need to retake the CITI training every 3 years that you are active in research at WVU.

Any graduate student who conducts research involving human subjects must obtain approval for research from the Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects before starting the research. Information and procedures are available at http://oric.research.wvu.edu/services/human-subjects.

All members of the University community are obligated to report observed, suspected, or apparent misconduct in research. Reports should be made to the University’s research integrity officer through the link to Online Research Problem Reporting at oric.research.wvu.edu.

Data User Agreement for Limited Data Sets and Research Identifiable Files

  1. Before you conduct any research you must complete and successfully pass the CITI offered human subjects research training as well as HIPAA requirements.
  2. All research projects must have a protocol approved by the WVU Institutional Review Board prior to the start of the research project.
  3. If a study uses data sets, you must sign a Data User Agreement (DUA) before commencing an IRB approved project.
  4. You must comply with all the requirements of the study protocol and DUA.
  5. Do not use or disclose the Limited Data Sets for any purpose other than permitted by the DUA with agencies such as the CMS, AHRQ, or any such data provider source.
  6. You must use appropriate administrative, physical and technical safeguards to prevent use or disclosure of the Limited Data Set other than as provided for by the DUA.
  7. Transportation and copying of limited datasets on lap-tops, portable hard drives and other devices are strictly prohibited.
  8. Data involving CMS or SEER-Medicare data sets, cell sizes less than 11 must be suppressed and cannot be displayed.
  9. You must sign a data destruction certification prior to leaving the program.
  10. Access to offices that house databases must be approved by the appropriate Principal Investigator.