Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI)

Earlham’s Financial Conflict of Interest Policy requires training of all Investigators who apply to or receive external research support from federal agencies that require Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI) declarations.

• Earlham’s current designated FCOI online training course is available through the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI), which is available to all Earlham College affiliated members.
• The Grants and Sponsored Research Office will notify Investigators to whom the FCOI policy applies when CITI training needs to be completed.
• All modules in the FCOI course must be completed by Investigators and a passing grade of 80% must be obtained.

1. Creating a User Profile and Selecting the Conflicts of Interest Curriculum:

Navigate to citiprogram.org and either login (returning users) or select “Register” at the top right of the screen (new users). If registering for the first time, continue to step 1.a. below.  If a returning user, login and click “Add a Course” and select the Conflict of Interest course (1.d. below).

a. Choose “Earlham College” as your affiliated organization.

b. Provide the requisite personal information and create a username and password. Note that providing demographic information is at the preference of CITI and voluntary.

c. When asked about Continuing Education Credits, simply select “No.”

d. At the final screen, “Step 7,” you will be able to enroll in the appropriate course. To select the FCOI training, please answer the questions as the following instructions:

• Question #1: Conflicts of Interest: select “Group 1: Researchers”.
• Question #2: Responsible Conduct of Research: select “Not at this time”.
• Question #3: Laboratory Animal Research: do not select anything.
• Question #4: Good Clinical Practice: select “Not at this time”.
• Question #5: Human Subjects Research: select “Not at this time”.
• Question #8: Export Compliance: select “Not at this time”.

Then hit “Submit” at the bottom of the page.

2. After finalizing registration, you will be sent to the main menu and the Conflicts of Interest courses will be listed under Earlham College Courses. To begin, click on the title of the course.

3. Complete the online training:

Proceed through the course modules, including reviewing instruction materials and taking required quizzes. There is typically a short quiz at the end of each module. Please note:

• You must obtain at least an 80% passing grade on each module.
• You may return to the module and re-take the quiz if necessary.
• You do not have to complete all of the modules at one time. Your quiz score(s) will be stored and you can return to complete the remaining modules at any time.

4. Once you’ve completed a course you will be returned to the main menu, and the status and date of courses taken will be shown under Earlham College Courses.

5. After you’ve fully completed the FCOI course, download & email the Certificate of Completion to the Office of Grants and Sponsored Research.