RCR/RECR Training

Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) or Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research (RECR) are broad terms referring to integrity and ethical standards in the work of scientists, scholars, and professionals involved in the field of scientific inquiry and practice. RCR/RECR is critical for excellence, as well as public trust in all fields of academic research. Consequently, education in RCR/RECR is considered essential in the preparation of future researchers.

Tuft University is fully committed to educating its students, postdocs, faculty, and staff on the issues surrounding the RCR/RECR, and their obligations as individuals and members of the larger research community.

Instruction areas of RCR/RECR education include:

  • Policies regarding human subjects including human subjects protections, and live vertebrate animals in research including animal welfare
  • Data management practices, including acquisition, recording and recordkeeping practices, analysis and interpretation, retention, archiving, and disposal, and associated laboratory tools, including electronic laboratory notebooks and tools for analyzing data and creating or working with digital images; scientific rigor and reproducibility
  • Data ownership and sharing, data confidentiality, Data Management Plans, Open Access
  • Responsible authorship and publication practices
  • Peer review obligations and responsibilities, including the responsibility for maintaining confidentiality and security
  • Research misconduct and policies for handling misconduct; questionable research practices
  • Conflict of interest: personal, professional, and financial; conflict of interest personal, professional, and financial and conflict of commitment, in allocating time, effort, or other research resources
  • Financial management in the laboratory
  • Collaborative research, including collaborations within an institution, between multiple institutions (including international collaborations), and with industry
  • Mentor/mentee relationships and responsibilities
  • The scientist as a responsible member of society, contemporary ethical issues in biomedical research, and the environmental and societal impacts of scientific research
  • Safe laboratory practices, and safe research environments including harassment, bullying, and inappropriate behavior; contemporary ethical, social, and environmental issues in research (e.g., those that promote inclusion and are free of sexual, racial, ethnic, disability and other forms of discriminatory harassment)

The goal of the RCR/RECR education is to inform all individuals engaged in the research process about the key issues, current standards, and best ethical practices.

The National Institutes of Health (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 (RCR). This policy took effect in 2010, with additional updates published subsequently, most recently in December 2022 (see below). This mandate 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. The NIH 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.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) views the responsible and ethical conduct of research (RECR) as critical for achieving excellence and maintaining public trust in science and engineering. Consequently, effective July 31, 2023, NSF is requiring everyone – from undergraduate students, graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and other senior personnel – involved in any NSF-funded research grant to undergo RECR training. NSF also requires mentoring training for faculty and senior personnel. Details of this new requirement are posted in the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (Chapter II.D.1.d(iv) (page II-6) and IX.B (page IX-3)).

RECR training involves not only a responsibility to generate and disseminate knowledge with rigor and integrity, but also commitments to:

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

For information on training requirements, see Training Requirements below.

The Office of the Vice Provost of Research encourages everyone in the Tufts research community to participate in the Responsible Conduct of Research/Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research (RCR/RECR) training opportunities that are offered. Based on federal sponsor research support, certain individuals are required to complete RCR/RECR training per sponsor requirements. For more information on individual funding agencies requirements see: Federal Agency RCR/RECR Requirements below.

Some funding agencies, including the NIH and NSF, require certain researchers to receive training in RCR/RECR. The requirements for many of these research participants are met through participation in RCR/RECR courses offered by individual Tufts schools, departments, or graduate programs, provided that the course covers all of the topics required by the funding agency. For individuals who are required to receive this training but do not have or are not eligible to participate in a program locally, the OVPR offers the resources below to fulfill this training requirement.

IMPORTANT: It is the responsibility of the Principal Investigator/Project Director (PI/PD) of covered awards to ensure that all applicable research team members are informed of the requirement and that the requirement has been met. The PI/PD is responsible for keeping records of completion. Moreover, it is the PI’s responsibility to provide appropriate mentoring through discussions of RCR/RECR topics and through oversight of the research project.

All undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars funded by an NIH training grant, a career development award (individual or institutional), a research education grant, or a dissertation research grant must receive RCR/RECR instruction, with the exception of those funded by the K99/R00 program. For the K99/R00 program, only the PI (fellow) of the project is required to complete the RCR/RECR training.

Course Options and Schedules

Full Course: The OVPR holds RCR/RECR courses on at least an annual basis that are designed to meet federal requirements for grant-funded research. The purpose of these courses is to help guide the Tufts University research community in understanding the multi-faceted aspects of research integrity and to reinforce the importance of conducting research in an honest, objective, and transparent way.

Courses are organized by the OVPR and provided over four weeks, for a total of 8 to 10 hours, with content specifically designed to meet NIH requirements in terms of length (i.e., 8 hours minimum), format (i.e., in-person) and content. Courses are offered on the Boston, Medford, and Grafton campuses. Enrollment is on a first come-first served basis. While all trainees are encouraged to enroll, priority will be given to those who need this training as part of a grant requirement.

Please Note: Each individual is reminded to please keep a copy of his/her/their certificate of completion. Principal Investigators are required to retain a copy of training certificates for all research team members; these documents are subject to audit. The OVPR does retain an archive of certificates of completion in the event of a lost certificate.

The next round of RCR/RECR courses will be held in the Fall of 2024 on the Boston and Medford/Somerville campuses (dates and locations TBD):

Medford/Somerville Campus: Access through Tufts Learning Center

Boston Campus: Access through Tufts Learning Center

Attendance at all course dates (typically once per week for four weeks) is required for certification of completion of training.

For additional information about in-person RCR/RECR training, please email RCR@tufts.edu.

Short Course: Courses are organized by the OVPR and provided in one 2- to 2.5-hour session. Courses are offered for focus on specific career stages (e.g., Undergraduates/Graduates, Postdoc/Faculty) and specifically designed to meet NSF and USDA NIFA requirements. Completion of the short course does not satisfy NIH RCR requirements. Courses are offered synchronously via Zoom and in-person depending on demand. Please contact RCR@tufts.edu for more information. Additional course offerings are currently under development.

While the courses are intended for certain career stages, all are welcome to attend regardless of career stage. You must be registered to obtain a certificate of completion.

Online Training: Online RCR/RECR training is provided by CITI Program, with research disciple-specific content (e.g., Social and Behavioral Research; Physical Sciences; School of Engineering; and RCR for Researchers, Non-Engineers [intended for all other research fields]). This training program meets NSF and NIH requirements when the full in-person course is not mandated. This course must be successfully completed within 90 days of being appointed to a covered project or before the applicable person graduates or otherwise leaves Tufts University, although researchers are encouraged to complete this training as early as possible during their training period.

For one-step sign-on access to complete CITI Program training modules, go to (CITI Program for Tufts University | Tufts Office of the Vice Provost for Research).

For additional information about online RCR/RECR training, please email RCR@tufts.edu.

Renewal training: The OVPR recommends renewal RCR/RECR training every four years (NIH requires this for applicable grants – described below). It is the responsibility of the PI/PD to ensure training is completed by anyone joining the applicable project before they start working on it. Applicable NIH trainees must be retrained at certain intervals. According to the NIH, “Reflection on responsible conduct of research should recur throughout a scientist’s career: at the undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, predoctoral, postdoctoral, and faculty levels . . . Instruction must be undertaken at least once during each career stage, and at a frequency of no less than once every four years.” The PIs of applicable NIH projects are required to develop an RCR training plan that addresses the re-training issue and ensure that their trainees adhere to that training plan. For more information, refer to your specific award information or contact RCR@tufts.edu.

Federal Agency RCR/RECR Requirements

Granting agencies require the following individuals to complete RCR/RECR education:

National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health (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. NIH requires a minimum of eight contact hours of discussion-based education. For more information, see NIH FY 2022 Updated Guidance: Requirement for Instruction in the Responsible Conduct of Research (Notice Number: NOT-OD-22-055)

National Science Foundation

The National Science Foundation (NSF) requires undergraduate students, graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and other senior personnel who participate in NSF funded projects receive instruction and oversight in the responsible and ethical conduct of research. For more information see NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (Chapter II.D.1.d(iv) (page II-6) and IX.B (page IX-3)).

United States Department of Agriculture

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) has mandated that program directors, faculty, undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and any staff participating in the research project receive appropriate training and oversight in the responsible and ethical conduct of research. For more information, see USDA NIFA Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research

Training Audit

The OVPR will introduce an auditing program for RCR/RECR training to ensure the institution is meeting these Federal requirements. This will verify adherence to make sure the university aligns with expectations from Auditors from NSF and other agencies who will be conducting audits of the RCR/RECR training program.

To be completed