University of St. Thomas
Responsible Conduct of Research & Scholarship (RCRS) Program
The University of St. Thomas has adopted a policy regarding Responsible Conduct of Research and Scholarship that
applies to all faculty, staff, and students engaged in research and scholarship. Formal certification is required for
students engaged in research and scholarship funded by federal grants awarded on or after January 1, 2012. The
University of St. Thomas scholarly community as a whole strives to foster ethical scholarly inquiry as a central tenet of a
liberal arts education.
Education in Responsible Conduct of Research & Scholarship
In 2007, President George W. Bush signed into law the America COMPETES Act: Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully
Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science. Seeking to strengthen educational opportunities in science,
technology, engineering and math, the act invested new funding in research infrastructure and outlined the importance
of educating students in the “responsible conduct of research,” making such education mandatory within
institutions of higher education. In response to the act, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has mandated that ‘‘each
institution that applies for financial assistance from the Foundation for science and engineering research or education
provide appropriate training and oversight in the responsible and ethical conduct of research to undergraduate
students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers participating in the proposed research project.” Other
federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, are currently developing similar plans for implementing the
America COMPETES Act.
Historically, training for students engaged in research and scholarship has focused predominantly on avoiding three
major forms of research misconduct: falsification, fabrication, and plagiarism (FFP). RCRS education goes beyond
concern over FFP to examine a variety of questionable and problematic behaviors. These behaviors include, but are not
limited to:
• Ignoring major aspects or circumventing minor aspects of human-subject requirements;
• Failure to disclose or manage conflict of interest, particularly ones with financial implications;
• Relationships with students, research subjects or clients that may be questionable;
• Unauthorized use of confidential information in connection with one’s own research;
• Making unauthorized copies of data or archival material;
• Inadequate literature reviews that fail to acknowledge existing contributions or previous scholarship within the field;
• Overlooking others’ use of flawed data or questionable interpretation of data;
• Changing the design, methodology or results of a study in response to pressure from a funding source;
• Publishing the same data or results in two of more publications without communicating with the editors;
• Inappropriately assigning authorship credit;
• Withholding details of methodology or results in papers or proposals;
• Using inadequate or inappropriate research designs;
• Dropping observations or data points from analyses without documentation of rationale;
• Inadequate record-keeping related to research projects; and,
• Financial mismanagement of a project or grant.
While emphasizing the importance of avoiding misconduct, RCRS education also stresses the necessity of adopting
responsible practices in mentoring; acquiring, managing, using, and sharing data; collaborating; protecting human and
animal subjects; engaging in peer review; authoring and publishing articles and manuscripts; and disclosing and
managing conflict of interest.
In addition to content areas, RCRS programs focus on:
• Skills – decision-making, critical thinking, administration, communication, conflict
Resolution;
• Attitudes – research ethics are important, researchers have a responsibility to society,
excellence in research includes RCRS, open communication is vital;
• Behavior – modeling good conduct, identifying dilemmas, demonstrating respect,
complying with regulations;
• Community – developing a common understanding of standards, encouraging
transparency and conversation, extending conversations about RCRS outside the
classroom & academia, collective responsibility;
Requirements for RCRS at the University of St. Thomas:
In order to meet the requirements established by the National Science Foundation under the America COMPETES Act,
the University of St. Thomas has implemented required education in RCRS for all grant-funded undergraduate, graduate,
and postdoctoral researchers/scholars.
Beginning January 1, 2012, all UST undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers/scholars collaborating with
faculty or staff in grant-funded projects must demonstrate evidence of having successfully completed online training in
RCRS.
Students may meet this requirement by completing four required online training modules offered by the
Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) available at: www.citiprogram.org. Online training modules are
particularly useful in establishing a basic framework for thinking about and language for communicating about ethical
and responsible research and scholarship. Online training modules have been proven effective in providing basic
content knowledge concerning RCRS.
All students must complete the following modules:
1. Introductory Modules (required)
The CITI Course in the Responsible Conduct of Research (5 minutes)
Introduction to RCRS (10 minutes)
2. Research Misconduct (required)
3. Elective module*
Complete TWO among the following elective modules:
� Data Acquisition, Management, Sharing and Ownership
� Publication Practices and Responsible Authorship
� Peer Review
� Mentor & Trainee Responsibilities
� Animal Welfare
� Conflicts of Interest and Commitment
� Collaborative Research
� Human Subjects Protection***
* Elective modules must be appropriate to the project and must be chosen in consultation with the faculty or staff
mentor. Students are strongly encouraged to take as many elective modules as possible.
*** Students engaged in research involving human subjects must take the Human Subjects Protection module as one
their electives.
Variations of these modules exist within several different CITI courses designed for users in various academic disciplines.
The student should consult with his/her mentor to determine which of the following courses is most appropriate given
the proposed research or scholarship:
1. Biomedical Sciences RCR Course
2. Physical Sciences RCR Course
3. Social and Behavioral Sciences RCR Course
4. The CITI RCR Course for Students and Investigators in the Humanities.
Students should note that the on-line modules do not have to be completed in one sitting and that each of the modules
will take approximately 1 to 1.5 hours to complete.
Upon completion of these RCRS requirements, an RCRS Certification Form must be signed by both the student and
faculty mentor and submitted to the Grants and Research Office (AQU 319). Until the certification is received, the
student may not begin work on any scholarly project.
A printed copy of the CITI Gradebook that indicates a date of completion for each of the four required modules must
be submitted along with the Certification Form.