PrintNational Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) both require RCR training. The two agencies differ in their specifications with regard to content and delivery.
NIH requires that all trainees, fellows, participants, and scholars receiving support through any NIH training, career development award (individual or institutional), research education grant, or dissertation research grant must receive instruction in responsible conduct of research. This must include substantial face-to-face discussions among the participating trainees/ fellows/ scholars/ participants; a combination of didactic and small-group discussions (e.g. case studies); and participation of research training faculty members in instruction in responsible conduct of research is highly encouraged. While on-line courses can be a valuable supplement to instruction in responsible conduct of research, online instruction is not considered adequate as the sole means of instruction. See below for a course description to include in NIH grant applications that have a requirement for RCR training. For more information, see the NIH Update on the Requirement for Instruction in the Responsible Conduct of Research.
NSF requires each institution that submits proposals for science and engineering research or education to have a plan in place to provide appropriate training and oversight to all undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers who will participate in the proposed research project. However, the NSF has given institutions much more flexibility than NIH in providing RCR training, stating that it is the responsibility of each institution to determine both the content and the delivery method that will meet the institution's specific needs for RCR training. For more information, please see the NSF RCR web page.
Please see the chart below for a comparison and summary of the NIH and NSF requirements:
| RCR Policy Comparison Chart | ||
|---|---|---|
Requirements |
NIH |
NSF |
Date Effective |
New and renewal applications due on or after Jan 25, 2010 Continuation (Type 5) applications due on or after Jan 1, 2011 |
New proposals due on or after Jan 4, 2012 |
Who must complete training? |
All undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty supported by early career awards and training grants.* |
All undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers funded by any NSF research project. |
Presentation |
At least eight hours of in-classroom, face-to-face training involving case studies, small-group discussions, and participation of research training faculty members | Defined by institution. |
Content |
Conflict of interest – personal, professional, and financial; policies regarding human subjects, live vertebrate animal subjects in research, and safe laboratory practices; mentor/mentee responsibilities and relationships; collaborative research including collaborations with industry peer review; data acquisition and laboratory tools; management, sharing and ownership; research misconduct and policies for handling misconduct; responsible authorship and publication; and, the scientist as a responsible member of society |
Defined by institution. |
Duration |
A minimum of once at the undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, pre-doctoral, postdoctoral, and faculty levels | Defined by institution. |
Frequency |
No less than once every four years. | Defined by institution. |
*All those receiving support through any NIH training, career development award (individual or institutional), research education grant, and dissertation research grant, must complete RCR training. This applies to the following programs: 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.This policy also applies to 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. Please see the official NIH policy for details: http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-10-019.html
Faculty of Arts and Sciences Guidance
The FAS offers an RCR course that will satisfy the training requirements for undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs on NIH and NSF awards (see description below). RAS also works with FAS departments and centers to identify graduate students and postdocs on NIH training grants and fellowships and undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers supported by NSF who require RCR training and to verify that these individuals have received training.
As mentioned above, NSF applications do not require a description of the RCR training to be included in grant applications. The institution must certify at the time of proposal submission that it has a plan to offer appropriate training in the responsible and ethical conduct of research.
The following course description should be included in NIH grant applications for awards that have a requirement for RCR training:
Responsible Conduct of Research
Mark Barnes and Delia Wolf
Lectures: Multi-week lecture course, please see the registration page for details.
This course is required for all graduate students, all postdoctoral fellows engaged in research activities supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and all undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers participating in research projects supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The course describes basic ethical and regulatory requirements for conducting research. Topics include ethical issues in biomedical and public health research; regulations and guidelines governing research involving human as well as live vertebrate animal subjects; financial and non-financial conflicts of interest; responsible authorship and publication; peer review; ownership of data and biological samples; grant writing; budgeting and adequate allocation of resources; mentor-mentee relationships and responsibilities; data acquisition, selection, and management; sharing of research results; intellectual property; safe laboratory practices, mistakes, and negligence; and research misconduct and responding to suspected research/professional misconduct.
Course Note: Students are expected to attend all lectures, participate in class discussions, and complete written homework case study assignments.
For more information and to register, click here and log in to the RCR Registration iSite.
CITI RCR Training
The Office of the Vice Provost for Research (VPR) at Harvard has also licensed an online RCR training program from the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI). The CITI "Course in the Responsible Conduct of Research" is a public-access course available without charge to the research community. While the CITI program does not satisfy the requirements of NIH RCR training because it is completely online, this course is highly informative and contains all of the major elements of RCR training. The CITI program may be used to satisfy the NSF RCR requirements, or to supplement the in-person RCR course described above.
Information on the CITI Course can be found on the VPR website:
https://www.citiprogram.org/rcrpage.asp?language=english&affiliation=100
