Responsible Conduct of Research Training

General Information

All persons involved in whose research activities must understand the underlying principles of responsible conduct of research that will assist in discouraging research misconduct and questionable research practices. As stated in other RCR pages, the America COMPETES Act requires institutions receiving funding to conduct research to have a plan for appropriate training and oversight in the responsible and ethical conduct of research (RECR) for faculty, other senior personnel, undergraduate and graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers who will be supported by NSF to conduct research. Training components must include mentor training and mentorship. As recent as November 2022, members of the research community have been informed that CITI is in the process of updating the modules on mentoring to address safe research environments based on the recommendations set forth in NIH’s updated guidance on requirement for instruction in RCR (NOT-OD-22-055). The training material authors are currently in the process of drafting module updates. However, these modules are required to go through peer review and editing before being published, with updated modules to be ready by February or March 2023. Stay tuned to the ORPCs myUMBC page for posts regarding this update.

The below training modules information about the underlying principles of responsible conduct of research designed to discourage research misconduct and questionable research practices. UMBC may accept evidence of training (e.g. certificate of completion) from other institutions. Please forward these documents to compliance@umbc.edu for review.

In addition to the CITI training modules, graduate students, post-doctoral associates who are funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) must not only complete one of the below required modules but also take part in funder requirements for RCR instruction. Details are found here.  Questions or issues regarding training? Click this link: Research compliance feedback and reporting research concerns.

citi

CITI Program Responsible Conduct of Research Training

IMPORTANT NOTE: ALL RESPONSIBLE CONDUCT OF RESEARCH TRAINING MUST BE REPEATED EVERY 4 YEARS.

First step:

  • Using your UMBC login credentials, click on the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Single Sign On (SSO) login link on the CITI Program’s website. 
  • Persons with a current CITI login will be directed to their current CITI course list.
  • If you do not have a current CITI login, you will see this screen. Click on the appropriate link and follow the below instructions
  • Click on Register link in top right.
  • Set up an account for yourself – in “Select Your Organization Affiliation” section, make sure to select “University of Maryland, Baltimore County” by typing it in box. Then follow the rest of the instructions to create your account.
  • When asked “Which courses do you plan to take”….
  • Scroll to “Question #3” and under ” Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Courses ” select the course that is relevant to your discipline or course of study:

                    Biomedical Responsible Conduct of Research – 7 required modules

                    Social and Behavioral Responsible Conduct of Research – 7 required modules

                    Physical Science Responsible Conduct of Research – 7 required modules

                    Humanities Responsible Conduct of Research – 7 required modules

                    Responsible Conduct of Research for Engineers – 9 required modules

  • Once courses selected, click “Submit”
  • Then complete the courses
  • Once the initial training period has ended, CITI will provide instruction to renew training modules with a refresher course.

Additional Training Opportunities

UMBC’s Office of Research Protections and Compliance provides a wide variety of training.  The ORPC has presented topics of RCR to students in the PROMISE program, to URA/URCAD awardees and presenters and to a variety of undergraduate and graduate level research methods classes. We would be more than happy to meet with you or your unit. Additional in-person or virtual training are found on the ORPCs myUMBC events page. Please feel free to contact us at compliance@umbc.edu.

For more RCR information, review these websites:

return to RCR info