Responsible conduct of research training provides basic information about accepted practices in scientific inquiry. Training requirements vary across funding agencies.

Funding Source

NIH

NSF

USDA/NIFA

Applicability

NIH-funded trainees, fellows, participants, and scholars. Faculty highly encouraged. Not applicable to all grants. See Training Details below.

Faculty and other senior personnel, undergraduate students, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers.

 Program directors, faculty, undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and staff

Topics

 See Training Details below and Training Resources for content

Frequency

Every 4 years

Once

Once

Format

Discussion-based instruction is a key feature of RCR training and must include substantive face-to-face interaction among participants and faculty. See Notice for details and exceptions.

 Not specified by agency. CITI training will suffice. Not specified by agency. CITI training will suffice.

Tracking

 Individual learners are responsible for documenting and tracking their training. Researchers funded by NIH, NSF, or USDA  will be asked to submit an ANNUAL REPORT of that training to OSRAA.

 

 

 

Who is required to complete training?

NIH-funded trainees, fellows, participants, and scholars. Faculty highly encouraged.

Applicability: D43, D71, F05, F30, F31, F32, F33, F34, F37, F38, K01, K02, K05, K07, K08, K12, K18, K22, K23, K24, K25, K26, K30, K99/R00, KL1, KL2, R25, R36, T15, T32, T34, T35, T36, T37, T90/R90, TL1, TU2, and U2R any other NIH-funded programs supporting research training, career development, or research education that require instruction in responsible conduct of research as stated in the relevant funding opportunity announcements.

What topics are recommended by NIH?
  • collaborative research, including collaborations with industry and investigators and institutions in other countries
  • conflict of interest – personal, professional, and financial – and conflict of commitment, in allocating time, effort, or other research resources
  • data acquisition and analysis; laboratory tools (e.g., tools for analyzing data and creating or working with digital images); recordkeeping practices, including methods such as electronic laboratory notebooks
  • human subjects in research
  • live vertebrate animal subjects in research
  • mentor/mentee responsibilities and relationships
  • peer review, including the responsibility for maintaining confidentiality and security in peer review
  • research misconduct and policies for handling misconduct
  • responsible authorship and publication
  • safe laboratory practices
  • safe research environments (e.g., those that promote inclusion and are free of sexual, racial, ethnic, disability and other forms of discriminatory harassment)
  • scientist as a responsible member of society, contemporary ethical issues in biomedical research, and the environmental and societal impacts of scientific research
  • secure and ethical data use; data confidentiality, management, sharing, and ownership

Not all topics are relevant to all learners. Add or substitute other research integrity-related topics at your discretion and in accordance with your approved plan.

How often is training required?

NIH encourages RCR instruction at every stage of a researcher’s career and at a frequency of no less than once every four years. NIH also highly encourages that initial RCR training for predoctoral researchers takes place as early as possible in graduate school.

What is the recommended format?

Discussion-based instruction is a key feature of RCR training and must include substantive face-to-face interaction among participants and faculty. See Notice for details and exceptions.

How should training be documented?

Individual learners are responsible for documenting and tracking their training. Researchers funded by NIH, NSF, or USDA  will be asked to submit an ANNUAL REPORT of that training to OSRAA.

Where can I find more information from NIH?
Who is required to complete training?

Undergraduate students, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. Faculty highly encouraged.

NEW! Requirements expand to faculty and other senior personnel for proposals submitted on or after July 31, 2023. Includes mandate for training in mentorship and research security.

What topics are recommended by NSF?
  • authorship and publication
  • collaborative research
  • conflicts of interest
  • data management and sharing
  • human subjects research
  • mentor training and mentorship (required)
  • peer review
  • protection of proprietary information and intellectual property from inappropriate disclosure
  • research misconduct
  • safe laboratory practices
  • welfare of laboratory animals

NSF encourages consideration of the following reports by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in meeting RECR requirements: Fostering Integrity in Research; Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; and Reproducibility and Replicability in Science.

Not all topics are relevant to all learners. Add or substitute other research integrity-related topics at your discretion and in accordance with your approved plan.

How often is training required?

NSF allows an institution to determine the frequency of RCR training. At OSU this training is required once.

What is the recommended format?

NSF does not specify the RCR training methods. Training can be delivered in-person or virtually through group or lab meetings, seminars, or courses. Online resources, such as CITI may also be utilized.

How should training be documented?

Individual learners are responsible for documenting and tracking their training. Researchers funded by NIH, NSF, or USDA  will be asked to submit an ANNUAL REPORT of that training to OSRAA.

Where can I find more information from NSF?
Who is required to complete training?

Program directors, faculty, undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and any staff participating in the research project.

What topics are recommended USDA?
  • authorship and publication
  • collaboration
  • conflict of interest
  • data acquisition and management - collection, accuracy, security, access
  • human subject research
  • mentor/trainee responsibilities
  • peer review
  • research misconduct
  • use of animals in research

USDA directs that the general content of the ethics training, at a minimum, will emphasize three key areas of research ethics: authorship and plagiarism, data and research integration and reporting misconduct. Not all other topics are relevant to all learners. Add or substitute other research integrity-related topics at your discretion and in accordance with your approved plan.

How often is training required?

USDA allows an institution to determine the frequency of RCR training. At OSU this training is required once.

What is the recommended format?

USDA does not specify the RCR training methods. Training can be delivered in-person or virtually through group or lab meetings, seminars, or courses. Online resources, such as CITI may also be utilized.

How should training be documented?

Individual learners are responsible for documenting and tracking their training. Researchers funded by NIH, NSF, or USDA  will be asked to submit an ANNUAL REPORT of that training to OSRAA.

Where can I find more information from USDA/NIFA?

If you would like to make an anonymous report related to any violation of ethical standards or institutional policies, we encourage you to use the Accountability & Integrity Hotline: EthicsPoint