Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research (RECR) Plan

Investigators, undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff must comply with funding agency requirements related to RECR.  RECR training is strongly encouraged for all members of the ODU community engaged in research.

NIH and NSF have defined who must complete RECR training when receiving NIH and NSF awards:

• NIH

  All trainees, fellows, participants, and scholars receiving support through any NIH training, career development award (individual or institutional), research education grant, or dissertation research grant must receive RECR training. This requirement also applies to all faculty, including new faculty, mid-career faculty, and senior faculty, and professional and scientific employees receiving funding from these sources. Plans to meet the RCR requirements must be specified in the principal investigator's proposal application.

• NSF

  Undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty, and other senior personnel involved in any NSF-funded research grant. All institutions submitting applications must certify, at the time of application submission, that plans are in place to provide appropriate training and oversight of the RECR training.

All researchers are expected to engage in RECR training.

Investigators are responsible for:

• Identifying those individuals working on their sponsored projects who must receive RECR training.
• Determining the most appropriate format, content, and instruction for RECR training in line with sponsor requirements.
• Determining if a funder has a requirement for RECR and developing a RECR plan that meets those specific requirements.
• Reporting as required under the terms of the specific funding program
• Submit the RECR training plan prior to the expenditure of any sponsored research funds.

Maintaining sufficient records to demonstrate that all applicable personnel have received the required RECR instruction.

All researchers are expected to engage in RECR training.

Investigators are responsible for:

• Identifying those individuals working on their sponsored projects who must receive RECR training.
• Determining the most appropriate format, content, and instruction for RECR training in line with sponsor requirements.
• Determining if a funder has a requirement for RECR and developing a RECR plan that meets those specific requirements.
• Reporting as required under the terms of the specific funding program
• Submit the RECR training plan prior to the expenditure of any sponsored research funds.

Maintaining sufficient records to demonstrate that all applicable personnel have received the required RECR instruction.

Researchers must describe both the content and the format of the RECR plans. The plan must describe how participation and instruction in RECR will be monitored.  All RECR plans must specify the timeline for individuals’ completion of the RECR training. Researchers are encouraged to contact the Division of Research and Economic Development Office of Research Integrity and Compliance in the development of RECR plans.  For all RECR training plans, ODU recommends a mix of 4 hours of online training through CITI and 4 hours of in-person training, which can be facilitated by the DivRED Compliance Offices.

A. General Training Plan Content Guidelines

• Conflict of interest- personal, professional, and financial
• Policies regarding human subject and animal subjects
• Safe Research Environments
• Mentor/mentee responsibilities and relationships
• Collaborative research, including collaborations with industry.
• Peer review
• Data acquisition and laboratory tools; management, sharing, and ownership
• Research misconduct and policies for handling misconduct
• Responsible authorship and publication
• The scientist as a responsible member of society, contemporary ethical issues in biomedical research, and the environmental and societal impacts of scientific research

B. NIH Training Plan Content (NOT-OD-22-055)

For NIH, the RECR plan must incorporate the following five specific instructional components:

• Subject matter: the curriculum of most acceptable plans includes the subject matter listed in Part A.
• Duration: Instruction is recommended to be at least eight (8) contact hours over a period of time.
• Frequency: Instruction should be appropriate to the career stage of the individuals receiving training and must be completed at least once in each career stage and no less than every four (4) years.
• Faculty Participation: Faculty are highly encouraged to participate in and contribute to formal and informal instruction in ways that allow them to serve as effective role models for their trainees, fellows, and scholars.
• Format: significant face-to-face interaction and discussion is expected to occur among trainees, fellows, scholars, and participants.  Online instruction alone is not sufficient to satisfy the training requirement.

DivRED recommends the following CITI modules and face-to-face elements to satisfy the RECR requirements:

Investigators

• CITI RCR Modules (pick one applicable to role and discipline)
  • Biomedical Responsible Conduct of Research
  • Social and Behavioral Responsible Conduct of Research
  • Physical Science Responsible Conduct of Research
  • Humanities Responsible Conduct of Research
  • Responsible Conduct of Research for Engineers
  • Responsible Conduct of Research for Administrators
• CITI "Safe Research Environments"
• CITI "Research Security Training (Combined)"
• CITI "Export Compliance"
• NOTE: Required Conflicts of Interest (COI) training is delivered through the ODU Research Portal COI dashboard. When additional training is assigned as part of corrective actions identified by the COI Committee, it will be completed through the CITI Training module.

Postdocs

• CITI RCR Modules (pick one applicable to role and discipline)
  • Biomedical Responsible Conduct of Research
  • Social and Behavioral Responsible Conduct of Research
  • Physical Science Responsible Conduct of Research
  • Humanities Responsible Conduct of Research
  • Responsible Conduct of Research for Engineers
  • Responsible Conduct of Research for Administrators
• CITI “Research Security Training (Combined)”
• CITI “Export Compliance”

Students

• CITI RCR Modules (pick one applicable to role and discipline)
  • Biomedical Responsible Conduct of Research
  • Social and Behavioral Responsible Conduct of Research
  • Physical Science Responsible Conduct of Research
  • Humanities Responsible Conduct of Research
  • Responsible Conduct of Research for Engineers
  • Responsible Conduct of Research for Administrators

AND

To satisfy the face-to-face element of RECR plans, DivRED will provide the following:

2. Note: to satisfy the in-person requirement, Students will need to complete at least 1 in-person workshop hosted by the Office of Research Security and Export Control, and three (3) additional hours of face-to-face discussion with their faculty mentor.

   Investigators must attend four (4) DivRED “office hours.”

• The Office of Research Security and Export Control will offer two in-person workshops for students each semester covering export control and research security awareness. (registration required)
• The Office of Research Integrity and Compliance will host weekly “office hours” to facilitate discussions on research compliance, research security, and export control topics.

Investigators are responsible for complying with applicable sponsor and institutional Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research (RECR) requirements, including completion of required training.

As part of proposal submission, Principal Investigators are encouraged to include a RECR plan, as appropriate. Regardless of whether a formal plan is included in the proposal narrative, Principal Investigators must have a plan in place describing how required training and project-specific RECR activities will be implemented and how compliance will be ensured for all covered project personnel, including graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. Compliance with RECR requirements, including confirmation that a plan has been established, will be certified by the Principal Investigator as part of the electronic proposal transmittal (ePTF) process.

Required online RECR training certifications (e.g., CITI and other approved courses) must be uploaded to the ODU Research Portal (Training section). Required in-person RECR discussions or activities must be documented using the approved template. Faculty must maintain copies of records for student in-person workshops or attendance at RECR “office hours” as part of the project’s documentation, in accordance with institutional and sponsor requirements.

Requalification is required every four (4) years.

Verification of RECR training includes completed certification through online training (CITI) and in-person discussion records maintained by the investigator.

Required Documentation:

• CITI Course Certificates
• In-person attendance records
• Documented mentor/mentee interaction

Investigators are responsible for complying with applicable sponsor and institutional Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research (RECR) requirements, including completion of required training. As part of proposal submission, Principal Investigators must include a RECR plan, as appropriate, describing how required training and project-specific RECR activities will be implemented and how compliance will be ensured for all covered project personnel, including graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. Compliance with RECR requirements will be certified by the Principal Investigator as part of the electronic proposal transmittal process. Principal Investigators are responsible for implementing and overseeing the approved RECR plan throughout the life of the project.