Administrative Policies

Class attendance

Class attendance is required. Contact the faculty and/or teaching assistant in advance for absences.

Grant citations

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) requires that the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) be cited by authors who receive funding through the Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCaTS) or who use any CCaTS services to support their research. As a Postdoctoral Certificate Program scholar, you are required to cite the grant.

Read more about Citing CCaTS in Publications.

Minimum GPA

The minimum cumulative GPA required to complete the Postdoctoral Certificate Program is 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. Grades of "satisfactory" ("S") are not calculated in the GPA. At least half the credits taken must be graded using the A-F system.

Release time

When applying to the Postdoctoral Certificate Program, you must demonstrate adequate protected time from clinical responsibilities to complete your research project and course work in your application timeline.

Time requirement

All requirements for the Postdoctoral Certificate Program must be satisfied within three years of admission to the program or three months after leaving Mayo Clinic.

Transfer or waive credits

A total of three didactic credits may be transferred into the Postdoctoral Certificate Program. Please contact your education specialist for requests.

  • Required courses. To substitute or waive required course credits, submit a transcript and syllabus to the education specialist. Requests will be reviewed by the course director with recommendation to the CCaTS Postdoctoral Executive Committee. You may also be requested to prove competence by taking an exam on the subject. The CCaTS Postdoctoral Executive Committee will approve or deny the request. If a course is waived, you are still required to complete 12 didactic credits.
  • Elective courses. To substitute elective course credits, submit a transcript to the education specialist. The requested transfer credit must relate to the scholar project, with the grade received being a minimum of a B (not B-minus) and completed within five years. The CCaTS Postdoctoral Executive Committee will approve or deny the request.

Probation and dismissal

Poor academic performance or poor nonacademic conduct may result in probation or dismissal from the Postdoctoral Certificate Program. See Mayo Graduate School probation and dismissal policies for more information (must be logged in to the Mayo network).

Plagiarism

Mayo Clinic considers plagiarism a form of scholastic and scientific misconduct. Any instances of suspected plagiarism will be investigated. If plagiarism is proven, it may result in a failing grade or other disciplinary action.

Any time you use someone else's published works — either directly (verbatim) or in an edited or summary form — and do not cite the original author, you have plagiarized that author's work. All nonoriginal (or previously published) work must be noted through quotations, citations and proper references.

The American Medical Association Manual of Style explains plagiarism this way: "In plagiarism, an author presents as his or her own ideas, language, data, graphics or even scientific protocols created by someone else, whether published or unpublished, without giving appropriate credit."

Source: Iverson C, et al. American Medical Association Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors. 9th ed. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins; 1998.

More information about plagiarism is on the Mayo intranet (must be logged in to the Mayo network).

Scientific misconduct

Ethical conduct in clinical practice and research constitutes an integral part of the Mayo Clinic culture. The Office of Research Integrity, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, defines scientific misconduct this way:

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

  • Fabrication is making up data or results and recording or reporting them. Falsification is manipulating research materials, equipment, or processes, or changing or omitting data or results such that the research is not accurately represented in the research record.
  • Plagiarism is the appropriation of another person's ideas, processes, results or words without giving appropriate credit.
  • Research misconduct does not include honest error or differences of opinion."

See Mayo's policies regarding the responsible conduct of research for more information (must be logged in to the Mayo network).