The aims of responsible conduct of research (RCR) program are to encourage integrity in the pursuit of scientific investigation and practice among of scientists, scholars, and professionals. Educating such individuals about the underlying principles of responsible conduct of research will assist in discouraging research misconduct and questionable research practices. Many policies and procedures, ranging from professional societies to the federal government to UMBC, have been created to guide individuals in conducting responsible research and ensuring integrity of research.
UMBC is committed to instilling in our research community a shared understanding and adherence to the principles of responsible conduct of research (RCR). The university’s program is also designed to meet the requirements adopted by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by providing appropriate oversight and training to undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, faculty, and other senior personnel supported by the proposed research project. Information on training formats available to the UMBC community are found here.
In addition, the training program supports the UMBC Graduate School’s requirement that all graduate students in all disciplines who are engaged in research and working on either a master’s thesis or a doctoral dissertation, regardless of funding source, be adequately trained in the concepts of RCR.
RCR Training
RCR training at UMBC is the responsibility of the Vice President for Research & Creative Achievement and is administered through the Office of Research Protections and Compliance (ORPC). The RCR modules in CITI address the following topics:
- Authorship
- Collaborative Research
- Conflicts of Interest
- Data Management
- Mentoring
- Peer Review
- Plagiarism
- Reproducibility of Research Results
- Research Involving Human Subjects
- Using Animal Subjects in Research
- Research Misconduct
Research compliance feedback and reporting research concerns
return to RCR info