Eastern Michigan University Human Subjects Review Committee Process

Step 1: Do you need to submit an application to the UHSRC?

The UHSRC reviews all human subject research conducted at EMU or by EMU faculty, staff, and students. If you are conducting human subject research, as defined by the Federal Government, you need to submit a UHSRC application.

To determine if you need to submit an application to the UHSRC, answer the following questions below:

  1. Is your project a systematic investigation? That is, do you have a research plan?
  2. Is your project designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge? Are you going to extend the interpretation of your results beyond the sample studied?
  3. If you are a student and your project is for a class assignment, do you plan to publish or present your results outside of the classroom?

If you answered “no” to questions 1 or 2 above, your study does not meet the federal definition of research, and you do not need to submit a UHSRC application.

If you answered “yes” to questions 1 and 2 and “yes” or “not applicable” to question 3, then your project meets the federal definition of research. Please continue with the following questions:

  1. Are you obtaining information about living individuals?
  2. Does the research involve intervention or interaction with the individuals? Note that the intervention can be indirect, such as a manipulation of environment (including public or private observation), and the interaction does not have to be in-person, for example, an online survey.
  3. Do you plan to collect individually identifiable information about your research subjects? Information is identifiable if the identity of subjects can be ascertained from one element (e.g., name or EID number) or a combination of two or more elements (e.g., gender, city of birth, and current zip code) in a dataset.

If you answered “no” to question 1 above or to both questions 2 and 3 above, you are not conducting human subject research and do not need to submit a UHSRC application.

If you answered “yes” to question 1 above and “yes” to either question 2 or question 3 above, you are conducting human subject research. You will need to submit a UHSRC application. Continue to Step 2.

If you have any questions about whether your study requires UHSRC review, please contact the Office of Research Compliance at 734-487-3090.

Step 2. Complete human subject protection training.

The UHSRC requires all faculty, staff, and students conducting human subject research to complete online training in human subject protections. This training is offered through the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) at Click here [LINK TO: for instructions on how to register and complete CITI training.

CITI training should take between 3 and 5 hours to complete. You do not have to complete the entire course at one sitting. You can start the course, stop, log out, and at another time, log back in and continue with the course. CITI saves your progress. Once you have completed the training, please save your completion certificate as a pdf file (right-click on the completion report page and then either save as a pdf or print as a pdf). You must upload your completion certificate with your UHSRC application.

Step 3. Create an IRBNet account and download and complete the application.

The UHSRC accepts submissions via IRBNet at You will need to create an account and affiliate with EMU in order to download the application and submit your study. Instructions for creating an account are available here [LINK TO: Please be sure to check your email and click on the link sent by IRBNet to activate your account.

Once you have registered for an account, log into IRBNet at In the left menu, click on “Forms and Templates.” You will be directed to a page in which you can download the UHSRC application forms. Download the appropriate form to your computer and complete the form. If you are completing the New Study application, it is suggested that you also download and read the “Instructions for Completing the New Study Application” first. The instructions are also available on the “Application Process and Guidance” website [LINK TO:

Please note that the UHSRC occasionally changes the application to make it clearer. The Research Compliance website [LINK TO: and the UHSRC website [LINK TO: will contain notices when a new version of the application has been uploaded. Please download the application every time you apply to the UHSRC in order to avoid using expired versions of the application.

Step 4. Gather your study materials.

The UHSRC requires supplemental materials in order to process your application. All relevant supplemental materials must be submitted along with your application for UHSRC review.

If you are submitting a new application, the following materials are required:

  • Application form
  • CITI training certificates for allstudy staff (for students, this includes your faculty advisor)
  • A brief 1-3 page study protocol including:
  • The purpose of your study
  • A description of the consent process. This description should explain how, when, where, and by whom consent will be obtained. If appropriate, include the debriefing process.
  • A step-by-step description of what will happen in the study. This description should include where research activities will occur, a list and brief description of all research activities, and how long the research activities will take. If your study has multiple visits or multiple subject groups, please include a table explaining what happens to each subject group or at each visit and the location and duration of each visit.
  • A list and description of all study measures and assessments.
  • All recruitment materials (e.g., email texts, phone scripts, fliers, etc.) that will be used to inform potential subjects about your study
  • All consent/assent/debriefing forms in Microsoft Word. Please consult the “Developing a Consent Form” website [LINK TO:
  • Copies of all instruments, questionnaires, interview/focus group questions, or other study measures
  • Copies of permission documents from non-EMU study sites, if applicable
  • Thesis/dissertation/capstone proposal, if applicable
  • Grant/funding proposal or Sub-award scope of work statement, if applicable
  • Students only: a copy of your signed committee or department approval form, if applicable

If you are submitting a modification request, the following materials are required:

  • Modification request form
  • A copy of all changed or modified documents (including the study protocol and consent documents) with all changes highlighted or tracked
  • A copy of all new documents to be added
  • Copies of CITI training certificates for new study staff members

Step 5. Upload your application and supplemental documents to IRBNet and submit.

The UHSRC only accepts submissions via IRBNet [LINK TO: Do not submit a paper copy of your application.

  1. Log into IRBNet and select “Create New Project” from the left menu. Enter the title of your project and your name and click “Continue.”
  2. On the Designer page, under “Step 2” you will upload your application and all supplemental documents individually.
  3. Once your documents have all been uploaded, you need to electronically sign the application. Click on “Sign this package” in the left “Project Administration” menu. You will be directed to provide an electronic signature.
  4. For students: you must share this project with your advisor. Click “Share this Project” in the left “Project Administration” menu. Click “share” and search for your advisor. If you cannot find your advisor’s name, contact your advisor and ask them to register for an IRBNet account. Once you find your advisor’s name, choose their name and give them your preferred level of access. Click “Save” and they will receive an email indicating that you have shared your project with them. Please note that your advisor must sign the project as you did in step 3 above before the UHSRC will review your study.
  5. If you are have co-investigators with whom you would like to share your study, click “Share this Project” in the left “Project Administration” menu. Click “share” and search for your co-investigators. If you cannot find your co-investigators’ names, contact them and ask them to register for an IRBNet account. Once you find your co-investigators’ names, choose their names and give them your preferred level of access. Click “Save” and they will receive an email indicating that you have shared your project with them.
  6. Once all of your documents are uploaded and all appropriate electronic signatures have been obtained, you are ready to submit your application. Click “Submit this Package” from the “Project Administration” menu on the left of the page. Follow the prompts, making sure that the EMU UHSRC is selected. You can add any comments you have for the UHSRC on the Submit Package page before clicking “submit.”

Once you click “submit,” your application will be sent to the UHSRC. At this point, you are locked out of your application and cannot make any changes. If you need to change anything, please contact the UHSRC at and we will unlock your submission so that you can make your changes. Be sure to click “mark revisions complete” at the top of the page after you have uploaded your documents to re-lock your submission. When you click “mark revisions complete,” the UHSRC will be notified by IRBNet.

Please note that IRBNet will save your progress. You can start a new study, log out, log back in again, and your work will be saved in the system. You can edit and work on a project as often as you like before submitting your application.

UHSRC review takes approximately 3 weeks. You may or may not be contacted with questions or revision requests in that time. If 3 weeks has elapsed since your submission and you have not been contacted by the UHSRC, please contact the Research Compliance Office at or 734-487-3090.