About the RQAP Credential

The Registered Quality Assurance Professional® credential is a recognized standard of experience and knowledge throughout the QA industry, in the US and around the world. It is available for professionals working in Good Clinical Practices (RQAP-GCP) and/or Good Laboratory Practices (RQAP-GLP).

Why Earn the Credential?

  • Current RQAP-credentialed professionals say they benefit from their credential because they have prestige among their peers and/or supervisors and because the requirements prompt them to engage in professional development to maintain their credential.
  • Over 75% of managers surveyed indicate that a QA employee with the RQAP credential can be counted on to have sufficient knowledge of the necessary regulations and tasks of a QA professional.
  • Nearly 60% of managers surveyed indicate that their company pays for RQAP re-registration fees and continuing education fees to maintain the credential in recognition of an employee earning their RQAP.
  • Nearly 60% of QA consultants indicate that holding an RQAP credential has helped them contract with more clients.

How it Works

  1. Professionals with at least two years of full-time experience in either Good Clinical Practices (GCP) or Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) must pass an examination to receive the RQAP-GCP or RQAP-GLP credential. See the exam schedule and eligibility requirements below.
  2. Registered professionals must re-register every three years by submitting documentation of ongoing professional activities. These activities include, but are not limited to:

More about the RQAP Program

More on RQAP Re-registration

Have questions? Please email [email protected].

RQAP Open Forum - February 2026

Tuesday, 3 February 2026

Members of the Council on Professional Registration (CPR) gave brief overview of the RQAP program and held a Q&A period. CPR representatives and HQ staff answered participant questions about the exam and re-registration process.

RQAP Open Forum Recording

RQAP Open Forum Slides

 

Exam Schedule

There are two RQAP exam periods each year, in March/April and September/October.

Next RQAP Exam Period:
27 September – 23 October 2026

Applications open 1 July 2026 

Eligibility for the Examination

GCP Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for the GCP Quality Assurance Professional Registry Examination, applicants must fulfill one of the two following requirements:
  • Have the equivalent of four (4) years of full-time clinical quality assurance experience as defined below prior to the examination date; OR
  • Have a baccalaureate degree AND the equivalent of two (2) years of full-time clinical quality assurance experience as defined below prior to the examination date. 
A full-time QA Professional is one who conducts audits of, evaluates, and inspects activities as described in the GCP regulations noted in the Study References. The QA Professional’s work experience must encompass auditing, evaluating and inspecting. Any candidate specializing in a subset of these activities must demonstrate experience in all activities as outlined in the applicable Detailed Content Outline (on page 15 of the Candidate Handbook).
  • A QA Professional is one who, through qualification experience and training, performs audits, evaluates, and inspects against compliance requirements.
  • An audit is a systematic and independent examination of activities and documents to determine compliance with applicable requirements.
  • Independent means one who is not involved in the investigation’s design, development, execution or reporting.

Documentation Required

  • A copy of applicant's Curriculum vitae must be submitted with the exam application. Your CV must include the years and months worked in each job position, a specific list of your job responsibilities/duties for each job position, and the percentage of time devoted to clinical QA/audit work in each job position. If your CV does not demonstrate your performance of direct quality assurance tasks, your application may be declined.
  • Experience: Applicants are required to provide a professional reference who is able to verify applicant's experience and eligibility to take the exam.

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