The University of Oregon supports the research community in upholding the highest ethical and professional standards. The University offers mandatory and optional training resources. 

National Institutes of Health defines Responsible Conduct of Research as “the practice of scientific investigation with integrity." 

The National Science Foundation defines Responsible Conduct of Research as a responsibility to generate and disseminate knowledge with rigor and integrity, including a responsibility to: 

• Conduct peer review with the highest ethical standards 
• Diligently protect proprietary information and intellectual property from inappropriate disclosure 
• Treat students and colleagues fairly and with respect

Responsible conduct of research (RCR, also known as Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research, or RECR) can refer to one of two things:

1. Conducting research in an ethical manner. It can include many of the responsibilities encompassed by UO’s Vice President for Research and Innovation Office of Research Integrity:
2. Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research training requirements and resources (commonly referred to as RCR or RECR). 

The Research and Innovation Support and Education (RISE) Training Opportunities page is dedicated to UO's training requirements and resources. 

• Take the Responsible Conduct of Research Training. Identify others on your project who must receive RCR training.
• Determine the format, content and instruction content of RCR training for your team, incorporating funder requirements; develop a RCR Training & Education Plan and implement with your research team.
• Report as required by the funding agency.
• Maintain documentation of completion of RCR training for all applicable personnel for at least three years after the conclusion of the award.

RCR involves integrity and avoiding the harms of misleading others or undermining public trust. Completion of the training is required by certain federal funders.

NIH has said the Responsible Conduct of Research is “good science.” According to NIH, RCR “promotes the aims of scientific inquiry, fosters a research environment that enables scientists to work together toward common goals, and promotes public confidence in scientific knowledge and progress for the public good.” 

• NSF requires institutions to certify, in any application for funding, a plan to provide appropriate training and oversight in RCR of undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral research, faculty, and other senior/ key personnel supported by the proposed research project. 
  • Source: The COMPETES Act, 42 USC 1862o-1.
• NIH requires RCR instruction for trainees, fellows, participants, and scholars receiving NIH training, career development award, research education grant, and dissertation research grant. 
  • Source: NIH Notice Number: NOT-OD-10-019, Update on the Requirement for Instruction in the Responsible Conduct of Research. 

Different funders have different requirements identifying who needs to take RCR/ RECR training.

• CITI RCR online training satisfies some of NSF or NIH’s RCR requirements. CITI RCR training is also an option for any individual who is interested in the responsible conduct of research.

Once CITI online RCR training is completed, certification through CITI is good for four years. To recertify, a refresher course can be completed. 

NSF Guidance

Training content must include:

• Mentor training and mentorship
• Training to raise awareness of potential research security threats
• Federal export control, disclosure, and reporting requirements

NIH Guidance

Please see the Core Principles of RCR Instruction.

• Format: Face to face discussions among participants, combination of didactic and small group discussions (case studies), and participation of research training faculty members. Not just online, and not just video conferencing, except in unusual and well justified circumstances (such as during the COVID public health emergency, or for short term institutional programs).
• Content (NIH says there is no specific curricular requirement, but these topics are incorporated into most acceptable plans)
• Conflict of interest personal, professional, and financial and conflict of commitment, in allocating time, effort, or other resources
• Policies regarding human subjects, live vertebrate animal subjects in research, and safe laboratory practices
• Mentor/mentee responsibilities and relationships
• Safe research environments (e.g., those that promote inclusion and are free of sexual, racial, ethnic, disability and other forms of discriminatory harassment)
• Collaborative research including collaborations with industry and investigators and institutions in other countries
• Peer review, including the responsibility for maintaining confidentiality and security in peer review
• 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
• Secure and ethical data use; data confidentiality, 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
• Senior fellows and career award recipients may fulfill the requirement for instruction in RCR by participating as lecturers and discussion leaders

USDA Guidance

Training content must include:

• Authorship and plagiarism
• Data and research integration
• Reporting misconduct

Training must be:

• Effective
• Appropriately tailored to the specific needs of UO 

Duration:

• NIH
  • Generally at least eight contact hours for NIH-supported training grants, individual fellowship awards, career development awards, research education grants, dissertation grants, and where otherwise specified in funding opportunity announcement
• NSF
  • It takes approximately 3 hours to complete the CITI training UO has identified to satisfy NSF’s RCR training requirements.
• USDA
  • It takes approximately 3 hours to complete the CITI training UO has identified to satisfy USDA’s RCR training requirements. 

If online RCR training is completed through CITI (for NSF, USDA or to supplement NIH training) or through Academic Impressions (NSF for PIs/Sr. Personnel) completion records are available in those systems; download and store in the research record.

Research teams must track the completion of RCR training and maintain documentation in the research records.  RCS provides a tracker template for use.

Yes!  This is encouraged!

You can develop your own plan consistent with UO’s training plan. Plans must address five instructional components (format, subject matter, faculty participation, duration, and frequency). NIH has said that a plan that relies solely on video conferencing will not be acceptable except in special circumstances.

UO RCR Training & Education Plan

In developing a training plan, consider, if you are NIH-funded, the following principles:

• Quality matters, and evaluation of RCR training will impact funding decisions
• Instruction should be appropriate to a person’s career stage
• Those receiving fellowships and career development awards should assume personal responsibility for their RCR instruction
• Research faculty should participate in ways that allow them to serve as effective role models for their trainees, fellows, and scholars
• Face to face discussions are key. Some online components are permissible, but are generally not adequate to satisfy the NIH requirement (with exceptions, such as during the COVID public health emergency, or for short term programs)

NSF also recommends these National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine reports in meeting RCR requirements:

• Fostering Integrity in Research
• Sexual Harassment of Women; Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
• Reproducibility and Replicability in Science

You can also take a UO course. Here are the courses that have counted toward RCR requirements (last updated 2024 - this list is subject to change):

• Biology 610 BioEthics
• Chemistry 608 Workshop – Research Ethics
• Human Physiology 612 Professional Skills: Responsible Research
• Psychology 607 Graduate Research

To propose credit for a new or existing course, submit a syllabus to RCS. Courses related to professional ethics, ethical issues in clinical research, or research involving vertebrate animals, might be part of your RCR instruction but they are generally not enough to cover all of the NIH topics. You can also email Research Compliance Services to request a group or individual presentation or consultation.

RCS has additional resources you may wish to use to build and complete RCR/RECR training requirements.

Compliance with RCR training requirements is a partnership between the principal investigator, research teams and the UO.  RCS provides resources for RCR training. PI’s must track and maintain RCR/RECR training completion in their research records, and provide supporting documentation to RCS and/or regulators upon request.

Please contact Sheryl Johnson, Director of Research Compliance Services, at UO for questions about training and tracking requirements by email or phone at 541-346-3106.

Allegations of Research Misconduct may be reported to UO’s Research Integrity Officer, Sheryl Johnson, Director of Research Compliance Services.

• Office of Research Integrity Introduction to the Responsible Conduct of Research
• U.S National Science Foundation Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research
• National Institutes of Health Responsible Conduct of Research Training
• National Institute of Food and Agriculture Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research
• UO Authorship Guidance for Scholarly or Scientific Publications
• UO’s Additional Responsible Conduct of Research Resources

For more details on funding agency guidance, consider:

NIH

• 2010 Update NOT-OD-10-019
• 2022 Update NOT-OD-22-055

NSF

• Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research Page
• Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide Chapter IX.B.

USDA

• Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research Page