Responsible Conduct of Research
In 2009 the National Science Foundation began requiring that undergraduate and graduate students who receive NSF funds (support from salary or stipends to conduct research on NSF grants) will obtain Responsible Conduct of Research training. These training programs are designed to help the next generation of researchers understand the ethics of their chosen fields, including the consideration of risks and other factors associated with student and postdoctoral researcher participation in research.
Southwestern University will be using an on-line training program prepared by the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI). CITI is a subscription service providing research ethics education to all members of the research community, including a free on-line course on the Responsible Conduct of Research. The course is offered in several discipline specific variations: Biomedical, Social & Behavioral Research, Physical Sciences, Humanities, Engineers, and Administrators. If you are unsure which course is appropriate for you, please ask your supervising faculty member.
The RCR topic areas include: Research Misconduct, Data Management, Conflict of Interest, Collaborative Science, Responsible Authorship, Mentoring, Peer Review, Lab Animals, and Human Subjects. Southwestern University students will need a minimum "passing" aggregate score of 80% for all quizzes. If you want to improve a score on a quiz, you may revisit the content and repeat any quiz. The software will remember your best score.
Once you have finished the course, you may download a Completion Report as evidence that you have met your requirements (use the "View course completion history for {your institution} and print completion certificates" link in the list of learner utilities). Forward the completion report to your sponsoring faculty member.
Remember that you do not need to take all modules in one sitting. You are encouraged to complete the course in multiple login sessions. If you forget your username or password, you can retrieve them via email using links on the home page. If that approach is unsuccessful, you can call the CITI help desk at 305-243-7970.
To register, go to the following link:
https://www.citiprogram.org/enroll/courseregistration1b.asp?language=english&institution=100
Once you are registered, you can login at the following link to work through the modules at your own pace:
https://www.citiprogram.org/login.asp?strKeyID=7C2E5F0

