Responsible Conduct of Research
Texas A&M is committed to supporting responsible and ethical conduct of research and scholarship among its faculty, staff, and students. As such, the university follows federal, state, and university guidelines regarding Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR). A campus-wide environment pertaining to responsible conduct of research requires researchers to have the knowledge, skills, and tools to allow them to be responsible for their research conduct. RCR topics cover a variety of knowledge areas such as research misconduct, research data management, conflict of interest/commitment, collaborative science, responsible authorship, plagiarism, peer review, mentoring, human subjects protection, animal welfare, biosafety, export controls, scientific ethics, and safe research environments.
Responsible and Ethical Research Training Requirements
Federal Requirements
Recipients of awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are required to comply with specific requirements to ensure appropriate training in the responsible conduct of research.
Undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, faculty, and senior personnel who will be supported by NSF to conduct research must complete RCR training.
RCR training is offered online through the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) and completion is tracked in TrainTraq:
- Undergraduate students, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers will complete TrainTraq section 2113357 – CITI RCR Training.
- Faculty and senior personnel will complete TrainTraq section 2114579 – CITI RCR Refresher Training.
See NSF RECR requirements and 42 USC 1862o-1 Sec. 7009 for more information.
Program directors, faculty, undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and any staff participating in the research project must receive appropriate training and oversight in the responsible and ethical conduct of research.
RCR training is offered online through the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) and completion is tracked in TrainTraq:
- Undergraduate students, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers will complete TrainTraq section 2113357 – CITI RCR Training.
- Faculty and senior personnel will complete TrainTraq section 2114579 – CITI RCR Refresher Training.
See USDA-NIFA RECR requirements and NIFA Grant_Cooperative Agreement General Terms for more information.
RCR training is required by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for all trainees, participants, and scholars receiving support through the following grants and awards:
- 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 as noted in the Funding Opportunity Announcement.
NIH requires substantial face-to-face discussions; a combination of didactic and small-group discussions; and participation of research training faculty members in instruction for any trainee, participant, and scholar. While the online CITI training is encouraged, it is not sufficient to meet NIH’s RCR training requirements.
Investigators who receive support from the above sources are generally required to have training plans attached to their grant submissions. Personnel working on these grants are expected to follow their NIH approved training plans.
See NOT-OD-22-055 for more information.
University Requirements
All undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral researchers participating in research are required to complete RCR training per University SAP 15.99.99.M0.04. The basic requirements are outlined below. Please review the SAP and see the FAQs for more in-depth information.
Must complete online CITI RCR training (CITI RCR Training (online) – Division of Research)
Workshops
Workshops will be scheduled each semester. Click here for the latest workshop information, schedule, and enrollment instructions.