In 2009, The Graduate School instituted a new requirement for training in Scholarship and Research Integrity (SARI) that includes two components:
- Completion of the appropriate training module provided by the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) during the student’s first year, and
- At least five hours of discipline-specific, discussion-based ethics training before graduation.
To obtain a copy of the Academic Integrity form, email the Office of Graduate Education at rmr16@psu.edu.
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Specific GuidelinesSearch
Specific Guidelines
Students in the Master of Science in Clinical Research, the PhD in Biostatistics and the PhD in Epidemiology will meet the requirements by doing the following:
- Passing the CITI module Protection of Human Research Subjects with an average score of 80 percent, and
- Passing the course PHS 500: Research Ethics for Clinical Investigators
Students in the Master of Public Health (MPH) program will meet the requirements by doing the following:
- Passing the CITI module Protection of Human Research Subjects with an average score of 80 percent, and
- Passing the course PHS 809: Principles of Public Health
DrPH students will meet the requirements by doing the following:
- Passing the CITI module Protection of Human Research Subjects with an average score of 80 percent, and
- Passing the course PHS 806: Public Health Ethics
- Passing the course PHS 892: Directed Studies in Public Health
Students in the Master of Professional Studies in Homeland Security will meet the requirements by doing the following:
- Passing the course HLS 803: Homeland Security: Social and Ethical Issues
All students enrolled in graduate programs offered by the College of Medicine except those in the Department of Public Health Sciences (listed elsewhere on this page) will meet the requirements by doing the following:
- Passing the CITI module Responsible Conduct of Research — Basic Course with an average score of 80 percent, and
- Passing the course BMS 591: Ethics in the Life Sciences
- Go to citi.psu.edu.
- Choose “Hershey Medical Center and College of Medicine”
- For first-time registrants, a new CITI account will be created that is linked to your PSU ID as part of a single sign-on process.
- If you have duplicate CITI accounts affiliated with PSU or HMC, ask CITI Support to merge them into one single sign-on PSU-Hershey account, so you can access all of your courses in one menu and avoid repeating modules.
- Choose the Human Subjects Research learner group for IRB training.
- The required Protection of Human Research Subjects (HRS) course will auto load.
- Also select the Good Clinical Practice and ICH (GCP) course if you will be involved in FDA-regulated research. You can select to Add a Course at any time from the main menu.
- You will be required to complete multiple pre-selected modules based on your course selection. The HRS course will require you to also select and complete one (1) elective module.
- You may exit and enter the course as needed, reviewing the modules as time permits. (The modules take 15-30 minutes each, and the courses require 2-4 hours to complete.)
- Students must earn a grade of 80 percent or higher. If you do not pass, you may repeat the course until you pass. Students who pass will receive a printable certificate at the end of the course.
- Print a copy of the certificate to show proof of completion.
- Academic Integrity at Penn State: A Statement by the Council of Academic Deans
- Senate Policy 49-20 on Academic Honesty
- Graduate School Policies
- PSU Copyright Perspectives — Perspectives on Intellectual Property, Copyright and Legal Alternatives
- Department of Health and Human Services — Office of Research Integrity
- Avoiding plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and other questionable writing practices: A guide to ethical writing, by Miguel Roig, PhD
- National Institutes of Health: Training in the Responsible Conduct of Research