Responsible Conduct of Research

The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) require that institutions offer programs and verify completion in Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training. These requirements are applicable to students, trainees, participants, scholars and postdoctoral fellows receiving grant support from these agencies. As a result of these requirements, the Division of Research has implemented a comprehensive training program to satisfy these requirements.

FAU uses the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) RCR training to adhere to the federal training requirements. CITI is an online research training portal utilized by thousands of universities across the country and internationally for researcher training. This is a convenient way to offer training that can be easily verified through your completion report. [*It is important to pay attention to what training you need to complete as part of your research as there are many varying trainings offered through CITI.] FAU developed Advice for Compliance Training (ACT) to help guide you to the correct training course for your research.

All CITI course offerings are on a three-year renewal cycle. This means that a refresher course will be due three years after you first complete a course. CITI will send you emails to remind you when a refresher course is due. It is important to adjust your email privacy setting so that you can receive these important emails.

CITI RCR Training:

• Is free to all FAU and non-FAU affiliates who are collaborating on research projects from other institutions
• It is not necessary to have an FAU email to create a CITI account for this course.
• Training can be completed online at any time.

See the How-to Guide for step by step instructions on how to create an account and register for the RCR course.

All Costing Allocations and Period Activity Pay (PAP) for students (undergraduate and graduate) and postdoctoral fellows paid from federal or federal flow through SmartTags (the worktag "F0005" for Sponsored Grants Federal is used to identify federal or federal flow through) must have CITI RCR verified to be processed. ** Note: Only CITI RCR is required for payment.

Prior to submitting a student or postdoctoral Costing Allocation or Period Activity Pay that includes a federal or federal flow through SmartTag (F0005), the student or postdoctoral fellow's department must take the following steps:

1. Advise the student or postdoctoral fellow that they must complete the RCR learning course through the CITI on-line training
2. Obtain and keep on file a copy of the student or postdoctoral fellow's RCR learning course completion certificate that they earn through the CITI on-line training
3. Indicate on the "To Do" of the Costing Allocation or within the "comment" section of the Period Activity Pay the date of the last CITI RCR training completion
   ** See this template/sample for a correct CITI RCR report**
4. The Dean's Office or Cost Center Manger must verify that the department has completed item 3 before approving or forwarding. Processes submitted without the confirmation of RCR completion report date will be returned to the college.
5. Add "Sponsored Programs Manager" for Period Activity Pay for approval by Research Accounting. Costing Allocations will route automatically to the appropriate Research Accountant.

The NSF requires that, at the time of proposal submission to NSF, a proposing institution's Authorized Organizational Representative certify that the institution has a plan to provide appropriate training and oversight in the responsible and ethical conduct of research (RCR) to undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers who will be supported by NSF to conduct research. NSF award conditions stipulate that institutions are responsible for verifying that undergraduate and graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers supported by NSF to conduct research, have received RCR training. For more information look here.

NIH requires that all trainees, fellows, participants, and scholars receiving support through any NIH training, career development award (individual or institutional), research education grant, and dissertation research grant must receive RCR instruction. This policy took effect for all new (Type 1) and renewal (Type 2) applications submitted on or after January 25, 2010, and for all continuation (Type 5) applications with deadlines on or after January 1, 2011. Each application type has specific requirements for the inclusion of the RCR training plan or related information. For more information look here.