This Certification form will be required when submitting for the In Person Training or the Online versions  of the Responsible Conduct of Research Training.

RCR-100 Responsible Conduct of Research Certification

Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) maintains a subscription with the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI Program). Within this subscription Faculty, Staff, Students, and Personnel from TAMUK are able to affiliate with our university and complete the required trainings. Depending on your field of research and or studies you may have to complete more than one of the courses we offer through the CITI Program below. 

•  Biomedical Responsible Conduct of Research Course
•  Social and Behavioral Responsible Conduct of Research Course
•  Physical Science Responsible Conduct of Research Course
•  Humanities Responsible Conduct of Research Course
•  Responsible Conduct of Research for Engineers
•  Responsible Conduct of Research for Administrators

 Here is the link to the CITI Program Training Website: 

Statutory Requirement

"The Director shall require that each institution that applies for financial assistance from the Foundation for science and engineering research or education describe in its grant proposal a plan to provide appropriate training and oversight in the responsible and ethical conduct of research to undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers participating in the proposed research project."

The National Science Foundation (NSF) requires that each institution submitting a proposal certify that it has a plan to provide appropriate training and oversight in the ethical conduct of research to all undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers who will be supported by NSF to conduct research. The institutions are responsible for verifying that the training has been received. This is in accordance with the 2007  America COMPETES Act . ⁱ

TAMUK adheres to NSF recognition of its use of the CITI Program for training. See the "Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI Program) - RCR Training" drop down above for instruction on completing the training and then certify your training with form RCR-100.

SEC. 7009. RESPONSIBLE CONDUCT OF RESEARCH.

The Director shall require that each institution that applies for financial assistance from the Foundation for science and engineering research or education describe in its grant proposal a plan to provide appropriate training and oversight in the responsible and ethical conduct of research to undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers participating in the proposed research project.

See Public Law 110-69 America Compete Act H.R. 2272 Title III National Institute of Standards and Technology

TAMUK adheres to NIST recognition of its use of the CITI Program for training. See the "Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI Program) - RCR Training" drop down above for instruction on completing the training and then certify your training with form RCR-100.

Notice Number:   NOT-OD-10-019

Applicability

This Notice applies to all NIH Institutional Research Training Grants, Individual Fellowship Awards, Career Development Awards (Institutional and Individual), Research Education Grants, Dissertation Research Grants, or other grant programs with a training component that requires instruction in responsible conduct of research as noted in the Funding Opportunity Announcement.

Policy

NIH requires that 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 must receive instruction in responsible conduct of research.  This policy will take effect with all new and renewal applications submitted on or after January 25, 2010, and for all continuation (Type 5) applications with deadlines on or after January 1, 2011.  This Notice 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.

Instructional Components

NIH recognizes that instruction in responsible conduct of research occurs formally and informally in educational settings and that informal instruction occurs throughout the research training experience.  The guidance provided below is directed at formal instruction in responsible conduct of research.   It reflects the accumulated experiences and the best practices of the scientific community over the past two decades.  These practices have been incorporated into many of the best regarded programs of instruction in responsible conduct of research.

1. Format:   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 are 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. A plan that employs only online coursework for instruction in responsible conduct of research will not be considered acceptable, except in special instances of short-term training programs (see below), or unusual and well-justified circumstances.  
2. Subject Matter:  While there are no specific curricular requirements for instruction in responsible conduct of research, the following topics have been incorporated into most acceptable plans for such instruction:
   1. conflict of interest – personal, professional, and financial
   2. policies regarding human subjects, live vertebrate animal subjects in research, and safe laboratory practices
   3. mentor/mentee responsibilities and relationships
   4. collaborative research including collaborations with industry
   5. peer review
   6. data acquisition and laboratory tools; management, sharing and ownership
   7. research misconduct and policies for handling misconduct
   8. responsible authorship and publication
   9. the scientist as a responsible member of society, contemporary ethical issues in biomedical research, and the environmental and societal impacts of scientific research

While courses related to professional ethics, ethical issues in clinical research, or research involving vertebrate animals may form a part of instruction in responsible conduct of research, they generally are not sufficient to cover all of the above topics.  Additional detail regarding subject matter is available under Resources.

3. Faculty Participation:  Training faculty and sponsors/mentors are highly encouraged to contribute both to formal and informal instruction in responsible conduct of research.  Informal instruction occurs in the course of laboratory interactions and in other informal situations throughout the year. Training faculty may contribute to formal instruction in responsible conduct of research as discussion leaders, speakers, lecturers, and/or course directors.  Rotation of training faculty as course directors, instructors, and/or discussion leaders may be a useful way to achieve the ideal of full faculty participation in formal responsible conduct of research courses over a period of time. Duration of Instruction:  Instruction should involve substantive contact hours between the trainees/fellows/scholars/participants and the participating faculty.  Acceptable programs generally involve at least eight contact hours.  A semester-long series of seminars/programs may be more effective than a single seminar or one-day workshop because it is expected that topics will then be considered in sufficient depth, learning will be better consolidated, and the subject matter will be synthesized within a broader conceptual framework.
4. Frequency of Instruction:    Reflection on responsible conduct of research should recur throughout a scientist’s career: at the undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, predoctoral, postdoctoral, and faculty levels.  Institutional training programs and individual fellows/scholars are strongly encouraged to consider how to optimize instruction in responsible conduct of research for the particular career stage(s) of the individual(s) involved. Instruction must be undertaken at least once during each career stage, and at a frequency of no less than once every four years. It is highly encouraged that initial instruction during predoctoral training occurs as early as possible in graduate school.     Individuals at the early career investigator level (including mentored K awardees and K12 scholars) must receive instruction in responsible conduct of research at least once during this career stage.  Senior fellows and   career award recipients (including F33, K02, K05, and K24 awardees) may fulfill the requirement for instruction in responsible conduct of research by participating as lecturers and discussion leaders.  To meet the above requirements, instruction in responsible conduct of research may take place, in appropriate circumstances, in a year when the trainee, fellow or career award recipient is not actually supported by an NIH grant.  This instruction can be documented as described below.

Special Considerations by Type of Award

Institutional training and institutional career development programs (for example, T15, T32, T34, T90/R90, TL1, K12, or K30 programs):   Institutional programs are   encouraged to provide instruction in responsible conduct of research for all individuals associated with the program of training regardless of their source of support.

Short-term training and research education programs (for example, T35 and R25 programs lasting six or fewer months, short-term trainees supported on T15, T32 and T34 programs, and short-term participants in R25 programs):    The NIH recognizes that the duration of an institutional training or research education program should be considered in the design, implementation, and review of plans for instruction in responsible conduct of research. The duration of such instruction within short-term institutional programs should be appropriate for the total duration of the program and should be justified in the application. This is an instance where on-line instruction could be appropriate.  Such programs may also use innovative strategies to incorporate instruction in responsible conduct of research and to relate instruction in responsible conduct of research to the scientific focus of the short-term program. 

Individual awards:   In keeping with the individual nature of these programs, fellows and scholars, along with their institutions and sponsors/mentors, are encouraged to tailor instruction in responsible conduct of research to the needs of the individual.  Thus, instruction may go beyond formal institutional courses and provide opportunities for the individual to develop their own scholarly understanding of the ethical issues associated with their research activities and their impact on society.  An individualized plan would also be appropriate in the rare instance where an institution does not have an established formal mechanism for such instruction.

TAMUK adheres to NIH recognition of its use of In Person Training requirements for the subject matters. If you have an award from NIH that meets the above criteria then you will need to email Research Compliance to schedule a date and time to take the training as is defined to be at least eight contact hours.

Research Compliance can be reached at researchcompliance@tamuk.edu and

by phone to 361-593-2677.

Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research

In accordance with sections 2, 3, and 8 of 2 CFR Part 422, institutions that conduct USDA-funded extramural research must foster an atmosphere conducive to research integrity, bear primary responsibility for prevention and detection of research misconduct, and maintain and effectively communicate and train their staff regarding policies and procedures.  In the event an application to NIFA results in an award, the Authorized Representative (AR) assures, through acceptance of the award that the institution will comply with the above requirements. Award recipients shall, upon request, make available to NIFA the policies, procedures, and documentation to support the conduct of the training.

Note that the training referred to herein shall be either on-campus or off-campus training. The general content of the ethics training will, at a minimum, emphasize three key areas of research ethics: authorship and plagiarism, data and research integration, and reporting misconduct. Each institution will be responsible for developing its own training system, as schools will need flexibility to develop training tailored to their specific student needs.  Grantees should consider the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) program for RCR.

Typically this RCR education addresses the topics of: Data Acquisition and Management - collection, accuracy, security, access; Authorship and Publication; Peer Review; Mentor/Trainee Responsibilities; Collaboration; Conflict of Interest; Research Misconduct; Human Subject Research; and Use of Animals in Research.

TAMUK adheres to USDA-NIFA recognition of its use of the CITI Program for training. See the "Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI Program) - RCR Training" drop down above for instruction on completing the training and then certify your training with form RCR-100.