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Research at URI

Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR)

The URI Office of Research Compliance has contracted with the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI Program) to provide online education and training in the Responsible Conduct of Research incorporating the following instructional areas in compliance with the requirements of the National Science Foundation* and the National Institutes of Health**:

  • Data Acquisition and Management
  • Research Misconduct
  • Publication Practices and Responsible Authorship
  • Mentor-Trainee Responsibilities
  • Peer Review
  • Conflicts of Interest
  • Collaborative Science

RCR Registration Form for NSF/ NIH Grant Awardees

Link to the CITI Program website to complete the course appropriate to your discipline:    www.citiprogram.org

If you are already registered with CITI, and need to take an RCR course to satisfy the NSF or NIH RCR training requirements, just log in to your CITI account; from your Main Page, click on "Add a course or update your learner groups" for URI. Then scroll down to CITI Course Enrollment Questions and check the appropriate course under Question 2.

If you have not yet enrolled with CITI, read the following -

CITI/Software Requirements: You will need to have MS Explorer 5.0 or higher (preferred) or Netscape Navigator 6.2 or higher, MS Word or other word processing software capable of viewing files in the RTF format, and Adobe Acrobat Reader software, version 5.0 or higher.

Steps for CITI Registration/Instructions:
1. Go to: http://www.citiprogram.org
2. Select “New Users - Register Here”.
3. Select your Participating Institution – University of Rhode Island.
4. Create your User Name and Password.
5. Provide Name and E-mail address.
6. Complete CITI Member Information Page. [note *required fields]
7. On the "Select Curriculum" page, scroll down past "CITI Course Enrollment Procedure" page, to the CITI Course Enrollment Questions.
8. Check the appropriate RCR course for your field of research.

Instructions for fulfilling the current NSF RCR training requirement (and partially fulfilling the current NIH requirement):  Complete the appropriate RCR course.  You are only obligated to complete the required modules; however, completing one or more of the optional case study modules is strongly encouraged.

Each module includes material that can be read on screen or printed, and a brief on-line quiz; the format is “open-book” - you may refer back to the text at any time while taking the quiz.

Completion:  You should print your CITI completion certificate and retain it for your records.  It will not be necessary to submit a copy to the Office of Research Compliance.  We will receive confirmation directly from the CITI Program of your completion.

Workshops:  Check back with this webpage for announcements of workshops to be scheduled in the future.
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*NSF requirements:  Beginning on January 4, 2010, the National Science Foundation will require institutions to certify at the time of proposal submission that they have a program to promote “responsible and ethical conduct of research to undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers participating in the proposed research project.”  The Office of Research Compliance will fulfill the institutional requirement of verifying that students, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers have completed the necessary RCR training.
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**NIH requirements:  Beginning on January 25, 2010, NIH will require, “all trainees, fellows, participants and scholars receiving support through any NIH training, career development award, research education grant, and dissertation research grant must receive instruction in responsible conduct of research.”  This requirement will apply to the following programs: D43, D71, F05, F30, F31, F32, F33, F34, F37, F38, K01, K02, K05, K07, K08, K12, K18, K22, K24, K25, K26, K30, K99/R00, KL1, KL2, R25, R36, T15, T32, T34, T35, T36, T37, T90/R90, TL1, TU2, and U2R.  In addition, the policy applies to all other NIH-funded programs supporting research training, career development, or research education that require instruction in responsible conduct of research.

NIH requires “substantial face-to-face discussions among the participating trainees/fellows/scholars/participants.”  Therefore, both online training and workshop attendance will be required for these programs.  The Office of Research Compliance is responsible for verifying completion of all required components of the RCR program.

For additional information, see NIH Notice NOT-OD-10-019:
http://nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-10-019.html

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