Responsible Conduct in Research (RCR) Training

National Science Foundation Grants – RCR Training Requirement

The NSF requires all undergraduate, graduate students and postdocs who receive NSF support (salary and/or stipend) to conduct research be provided training in the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR).

In response to this NSF requirement, the University of Florida requires all students and postdocs conducting research and paid (salary and/or stipend) directly from a NSF sponsored project to complete the RCR Training through the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI). The CITI RCR Training is on-line and free. The CITI RCR Training is discipline specific (Biomedical, Social and Behavioral, Physical Science, Humanities, Engineers) and covers the following essential RCR topics:

• Research Misconduct • Data Acquisition and Management • Responsible Authorship • Peer Review • Laboratory Animal Welfare • Human Subjects Protections • Mentoring • Conflicts of Interest • Collaborative Research •

National Institutes of Health Grants – RCR Training Requirement

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) requires all trainees, fellows, participants, and scholars receiving support through any NIH training, career development award (individual or institutional), research education grant, and dissertation research grant receive training in Responsible Conduct of Research.

This RCR Training requirement 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.

  • NIH RCR Training Expectations, FAQs

  • Principal Investigator’s must submit an RCR Training Plan in the proposal submission that meets the RCR Training expectations of the NIH.

  • The PI is responsible for maintaining RCR training records to document that all NIH supported trainees, fellows, and scholars received the required instruction.

  • RCR Training Plans must include significant face-to-face interaction and participation

  • The following topics have been incorporated into most acceptable RCR Training Plans:

    • conflict of interest
    • 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
    • the scientist as a responsible member of society, contemporary ethical issues in biomedical research, and the environmental and societal impacts of scientific research

  • UF course GMS 7003 Responsible Conduct of Biomedical Research is a common element of most UF NIH RCR Training Plans.

  • The Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) offers on-line RCR Training by discipline (Biomedical, Social and Behavioral, Physical Science, Humanities, Engineers) is also a good source of RCR Training and can be included in a NIH RCR Training Plan.