NIH RECR Requirements
Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research Institutional Plan – NIH
Applicability
NIH requires Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) instruction for all trainees, fellows, participants, and scholars who receive support through any of the following NIH award mechanisms:
- NIH training grants (e.g., T32, T15, T35, TL1)
- NIH individual fellowship awards (e.g., F30, F31, F32, F33)
- NIH career development awards (e.g., K01, K07, K08, K23, K99/R00)
- NIH research education grants (e.g., R25)
- NIH dissertation research grants (e.g., R36)
If you are a Principal Investigator on any of the award types above, you are responsible for ensuring that all supported trainees, fellows, and scholars complete the required training. Contact the Office of Research Integrity at the time of award to confirm requirements and timelines.
Training Frequency
RCR instruction must be completed at least once during each career stage. For individuals who remain in research for an extended period, training must be repeated at least once every four years.
Career stages for the purpose of this requirement are: undergraduate student, graduate student (pre-doctoral), postdoctoral researcher, and early-stage faculty/investigator.
Training Format Requirements
NIH requires that RCR instruction include substantial face-to-face or active discussion-based components. The following formats satisfy NIH requirements:
- In-person, instructor-led sessions with active participation
- Live video-conferencing sessions with discussion and active learning components
The following formats do NOT by themselves satisfy NIH requirements:
- Online-only courses (including CITI courses)
- Pre-recorded video lectures without live discussion
- Online courses such as those offered through CITI may be used to supplement, but not replace, face-to-face instruction.
Minimum contact hours: For trainees supported by select NIH training grants, a minimum of eight (8) contact hours of formal instruction is required. Contact the Office of Research Integrity to determine whether this minimum applies to your award.
Required Curriculum Topics
Per NIH NOT-OD-22-055 (September 2022), RCR instruction must cover all of the following topics:
- Conflict of interest — personal, professional, and financial
- Conflict of commitment
- Policies regarding human subjects protections
- Policies regarding the welfare of laboratory animals
- Safe laboratory practices
- Safe research environments — free from sexual harassment, racial harassment, and other forms of discriminatory harassment
- Collaborative research, including collaborations with industry
- Data management and record keeping
- Authorship and publication practices
- Mentor and trainee responsibilities
- Peer review
- Research misconduct and policies for handling misconduct
Principal Investigators may supplement the above with additional project- or discipline-specific topics as appropriate.
RCR Plan for NIH Proposals
Most NIH applications that include support for trainees, fellows, or scholars must include a plan for RCR instruction. The plan should describe:
- Who will receive training and at what career stage
- The format of instruction (in-person, discussion-based)
- The specific topics to be covered
- The timetable for completing each training component
Contact the Office of Research Integrity before submitting your NIH application. We will work with you to develop a compliant RCR plan and can advise on how to document face-to-face instruction requirements in your application.
Responsibilities
Principal Investigators must:
- Contact the Office of Research Integrity at the time of NIH award to confirm whether the RCR training requirement applies and, if so, to whom.
- Provide a list of all trainees, fellows, and scholars supported by the NIH award who require RCR instruction.
- Update that list if new individuals are added to the project.
- Indicate the date that NIH support begins for each individual.
- Identify any RCR training to be provided in addition to the core components, and the timetable for delivery.
Trainees, fellows, and scholars must:
- Complete required RCR training within the applicable timeframe.
- Complete any additional or refresher training as assigned by the PI or the Office of Research Integrity.
The Office of Research Integrity will verify that all individuals have completed required RCR training and will maintain records of completion for each NIH award that requires training.
Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI Program)
CITI Program courses are available at no charge to all UTC students, faculty, and staff. For NIH-funded researchers, CITI courses in Responsible Conduct of Research may be used as a supplemental component of your training plan but are not sufficient on their own to satisfy NIH format requirements.
Access CITI at: https://about.citiprogram.org/
For step-by-step instructions on how to register with CITI and add RECR courses to your curriculum, see the CITI Tutorial – RECR.
Forms and Links
Contact
For more information on NIH RCR requirements at UTC, please contact:
Brandon Williams, M.S.
Research Integrity Compliance Officer
Office of Research Integrity
UTC, Dept. 4915
109 Race Hall
615 McCallie Avenue
Chattanooga, TN 37403-2598
423-425-1232
[email protected]