Research Protections - Responsible Conduct of Research
What is Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR)?
The term “responsible conduct of research” encompasses important shared principles of honesty, accuracy, efficiency and objectivity that guide research. These shared principles are equally applicable to scholarly endeavors and creative activities that may not be typically associated with the strict definition of research.
As research has advanced, issues of research integrity have received substantial public attention. Cases of researchers falsifying and fabricating results, unearned authorship and ghost writing, concerns of corporate influence through undisclosed corporate income to researchers and instances of plagiarism have all been featured in the recent news. In order to strengthen the integrity of research and creative scholarship, instruction in the responsible conduct of research must be considered a vital part of research and creative scholarship.
RCR at Appalachian
The Chief Research Officer, the Graduate School and the Research Compliance Office are working with colleges and departments to establish an RCR program that ensures students and postdoctoral researchers receive RCR education. Currently, all Graduate Research Assistants must complete annual mandatory online training in RCR. In addition, graduate students participating in the GRAM program will attend five seminars discussing RCR throughout their first year.
Undergraduate students supported on National Science Foundation grants and scholarships must also receive RCR education; please contact the Research Compliance Office (Julie Taubman and Robin Tyndall) if you need assistance with a plan for RCR instruction.
RCR education
Increasingly, federal laws and regulations are mandating RCR education. Although there is not a single best way to conduct research or pursue creative activities, several common core instructional areas in RCR have been identified:
- Data acquisition, management, sharing and ownership
- Human participants
- Animal welfare
- Conflict of interest and commitment
- Peer Review
- Publication practices and responsible authorship
- Collaboration
- Mentor/trainee relationships
- Research misconduct
- Intellectual property
- Lab safety
Resources at Appalachian
Several committees exist at Appalachian to ensure that research, teaching and creative activities are conducted in adherence with federal laws, regulations and accepted practices:
- The Institutional Review Board reviews research with human subjects
- The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee reviews all activities with live non-human vertebrate animals
- The Intellectual Property Development Advisory Council reviews intellectual property disclosures submitted by faculty, staff and students and makes recommendations to the Provost
Other RCR Resources
- Online CITI RCR training is now available! Click here for the instructions on completing the CITI training.
- The US Department of Health & Human Services' Office of Research Integrity promotes integrity in biomedical and behavioral research.
- The Council of Graduate Schools Project for Scholarly Integrity
- Responsible Conduct of Research Education Committee was established in 2001 to develop RCR education standards for medical, social and behavioral research, certify programs that meet those standards and facilitate the exchange of RCR education programs among research institutions.
- The National Science Foundation supports two web sites that provide resources on ethics education:
- UMass Amherst’s National Digital Library for Ethics in Science and Engineering and
- The Online Ethics Center at the National Academy of Engineering
- The National Academy of Engineering’s Report: “Ethics Education: What Have We Learned? What Should be Done?”
- International Dimensions of Ethics Education in Science and Engineering
- On Being a Scientist: A Guide to Responsible Conduct in Research, Third Edition is available from the National Academies Press (202-334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242)
