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Responsible Conduct of Research - MTSU Institutional Review Board 

Institutional Review Board (Cayuse Era)

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

The Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Middle Tennessee State University is an appointed committee responsible for overseeing all research projects involving human participants. The IRB’s primary goal is to protect the rights and welfare of research participants. No research study involving the collection of data through interaction or intervention with living individuals may begin at MTSU without prior IRB approval.

Trainings

The IRB Training page provides researchers with a link to a site where they can complete training and obtain certification for conducting research involving human participants.

Forms

The IRB Forms page provides information on the required forms for IRB submissions, such as consent and recruitment documents.

Instructions to Submit

  • Complete all necessary CITI IRB training before submitting your application
  • Prepare all consent, recruitment, materials, and other forms that will be submitted with your application
  • Note that incomplete applications will be returned to be completed prior to review
  • Review takes place in stages as noted on the Cayuse portal; researchers can be asked to add additional information at any stage and all requested information must be supplied before final approval can be granted
  • Review the Cayuse Quick Start Guide to prepare to submit
  • Applications are submitted via the Cayuse IRB portal
  • To request for a new user to be added to Cayuse, fill out the Cayuse New User Request Form (Dynamic Form).

  • The Cayuse IRB portal will automatically access your CITI training and pull it into the system. Your email address in CITI needs to match the email address in Cayuse for this to work. Check your profile in Cayuse to find out what email address has been uploaded. Update your email address in CITI to match by following the instructions on the CITI email update page.
  • Students, new employees, and researchers from outside of MTSU will need to be added to the Cayuse people finder before they can be added to your protocol in Cayuse. Student PIs will need to be added before beginning a submission. To request for a new user to be added to Cayuse, fill out the Cayuse New User Request Form (Dynamic Form).

Compliance Breach / Adverse Event Reporting

If you need to report a study-related injury, or if you have concerns about a research project, please contact the Office of Research Compliance by emailing [email protected] or calling 615-494-8918. 

Federal Wide Assurance (FWA)

The FWA is a contract or agreement that establishes standards for human participants research as approved by the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP). It is the policy of the Middle Tennessee State University IRB to uphold its Assurance as filed with the OHRP.

  • FWA number – 00005331 
  • IRB Registration number – IRB00003571 
  • IORG number – 0002962
  • OBM number – 0990-0279
  • ORI number – 1274605

Note: The Office of Research Integrity (ORI), not part of OHRP, oversees misconduct in research but not human subjects protocols.

Couldn’t find what you’re looking for?

The IRB FAQ page is expected to provide answers to many frequently asked questions. This page also covers some of the basic concepts of human research from a regulatory stand point and the essential topics specific to obtaining IRB approval.