Institutional Review Board (version 1.8)

Welcome to the Georgia College IRB Portal

All research involving human subjects conducted at Georgia College or by Georgia College faculty, staff, or students must be reviewed and approved by the Georgia College Institutional Review Board before the research can begin.

 

REVIEW CYCLE: 

The IRB applications are processed every week at noon on Wednesday.  Applications received after 12 noon on Wednesdays will be processed the following week.

 

ATTENTION - Students: ALL student projects must list a faculty member whose ethics training certificate (NIH and/or CITI) is current AND agrees to serve as the Supervisor, before IRB will process the application.  (Students must also have ethics training certificates).  Faculty: Faculty research applications do not need a supervisor listed on the application.  Only applications from students need a supervisor.

 

ATTENTION - Supervising Faculty: Supervising faculty members must review student projects prior to submission to ensure all necessary documents (site approvals, consent, assent forms, etc.) are ready and the information described is accurate and in FINAL DRAFT form before submission. IRB Portal sends a notification to both student researcher and faculty supervisor when an application is filed. Supervising faculty are asked to verify the application has followed the faculty's guidance. Should any error or problem be detected by faculty, please notify irb@gcsu.edu immediately.

ATTENTION - Course projects: IRB does not serve as an editor or reviewer of course projects or assignments that do not meet the Federal definition of research or are not intended to follow-through with data collection.  Please do NOT submit applications to IRB merely for feedback or editing purposes.  If assigning a research study or project as part of a course, faculty are encouraged to check with IRB to verify whether an IRB application is needed. 

Help and Tutorials

Check out the "Tips to get your project approved" guidance on the right side of this page.  IRB Submission Checklist, Video Tutorials, and common form templates are also located there. Application process (including extension) is listed on the bottom of this welcome page.

RECEIVING AN ERROR MESSAGE THAT YOUR ACCOUNT IS BLOCKED?  Please contact irb@gcsu.edu to resolve this issue.  Although the error message directs you to IT, this is not an IT issue.

Authorization

  • GC Researchers: Please Click Log in and use your UNIFY User Name and Password to log in. You will be able to use the portal without delay. DO NOT use the NON-GC path to create a new account if you are GC users!
  • Non GC Researchers: Please first click Create new account and proceed. Approval of your account will be sent to your email.

Application process

  1. Please have your NIH (not free) or CITI (free for students and faculty) certificate (to be uploaded in Document area): Date Certified and Certificate # will be needed on the 1st page;
  2. Click Applications and start a new application by clicking My Applications.

Steps for the application process: (at any time, you may use back arrow on your browser to return to previous page)

  1. Complete a Main Attributes page, click SAVE.
  2. Application process:
  • Complete the description of your protocol (Statement, Methods, Tools, etc.).
  • You may edit the attributes of your application on the Edit tab (Title, Principal, Location, etc.).
  • Upload all relevant documents in the Documents tab. Please also upload your CITI certificate in the document area.
  • When complete, carefully review your application and go to Submit.
  • Note that you will not be able to modify the application after submitting until after the review cycle. You will be notified if modifications are required.
  • For Continuing Research, please add [EXTENSION] on your title, fill out the Continuing Research Form AND upload your existing IRB approval letter issued previously to Document, for record keeping. Please check the EXTENSION form to make sure typed information is stored (Firefox is recommended). 

Research Misconduct

Research misconduct means intentional, knowing, or reckless fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research or in reporting research results. 

 A finding of research misconduct requires that there be a significant departure from accepted practices of the relevant research community, and does not include honest error or honest differences in interpretations of data or judgements.   

  • GCSU employees have a duty to report any suspected research misconduct (or concerns about possible misconduct). 
  • GCSU has a duty to investigate any allegation brought forth.  
  • GCSU has a duty to protect, to the extent allowed by law, both the person bringing concerns forward and the person who is accused.   

Research Misconduct Policy 
 
Please report research misconduct concerns to the GCSU Research Integrity Officer, Holley.Roberts@gcsu.edu.

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