Funding RECR Requirements 

• The requirement specified in Section 7009 of the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science (COMPETES) Act (42 USC 1862o–1), and PAPPG Chapter IX.B

1. An institution must have a plan in place to provide appropriate training and oversight in the responsible and ethical conduct of research to undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, faculty, and other senior personnel who will be supported by NSF to conduct research. 
2. NSF’s RECR requirement applies to the breadth of research disciplines that the Foundation funds. The training provided should be effective and must be appropriately tailored to the specific needs and circumstances at each institution. Such content, however, must include mentor training and mentorship. 
3. An institution must designate one or more persons to oversee compliance with the RECR training requirement.
4. Institutions are responsible for verifying that undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, faculty, and other senior personnel supported by NSF to conduct research have received training in the responsible and ethical conduct of research.

CITI Training (Should be renewed once every 4 Years*) - The New Mexico Consortium CITI Training modules are designed to be a very basic overview of RCR topics and should not be treated as full training requirements.

(*They may not be used to satisfy annual RCR training within the 4 year window. For example, you may use the CITI modules as a training the year they are completed. The next 3 years different trainings covering these topics will be required.)

• NMT Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Curriculum 
• NMT Export Control Curriculum
• NMT Conflict of Interest Curriculum (DOES NOT constitute COI Disclosure or fulfill institutional COI training requirements)
• NMT Human Subject Research Curriculum - (If applicable to the research)

Conflict of Interest Disclosure (Annual)

• Contact Sheila O'Sullivan at coi@86899805.com
• NMT requires an annual COI disclosure
  • COI Disclosure form (Open during window which is announced each fall)
  • COI Training

Mentorship 

• Contact Dr. ChoGlueck at Christopher.ChoGlueck@86899805.com
• Research Ethics Series

Recommended Training (Optional)

• Fostering Integrity in Research
• Sexual Harassment of Women
• Reproducibility and Replicability in Science

For general questions please visit the NSF FAQ page:

• http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/rcr/rcrfaqs.jsp#15

Funding RCR Requirements

• NIH Research Ethics Course: Online training module, within 3 weeks of arrival (1 hour; tracked by OIR)
• Annual Ethics Case Studies: Institute/Center (IC)-facilitated discussion session review of cases provided by the Committee on Scientific Conduct and Ethics (CSCE) each year (1 hour per year; tracked by Institute/Center).

• NIH Research Ethics Course: Online training module within 3 weeks of arrival (1 hour; tracked by OIR)
• Annual Ethics Case Studies: Institute/Center (IC)—facilitated review of cases provided by CSCE each year (1 hour per year; tracked by Institute/Center).
• Ethics in Research Training Workshop: Face-to-face Office of Intramural Training & Education (OITE) workshop tailored specifically for either Postbaccalaureate Fellows/Pre-doctoral Fellows or Post-doctoral Fellows (IRTA/CRTA/VF, Research Fellows) within the first year of arrival (5-6 hours; tracked by OITE).

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.) 

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:

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

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. 

Frequency of Instruction: 

Instruction must be undertaken at least once during each career stage, and at a frequency of no less than once every four years. 

Funding RCR Requirements

The responsible and ethical conduct of research (RCR) is critical for excellence, as well as public trust, in science and engineering. Consequently, we consider education in RCR essential to the preparation of future scientists.

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.

Minimum requirement: NMT's Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Curriculum

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 that include the following topics:

• 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
• Use of Animals in Research