Faculty and Staff Instruction in the Responsible Conduct of Research

UAB has adopted a policy that all research-active faculty and staff renew basic instruction in the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) every four years. Like many other research institutions, UAB subscribes to the CITI Program to provide high quality, peer-reviewed, web-based educational materials for researchers to use to demonstrate their awareness, understanding, and appreciation for expectant RCR principles. Many of UAB’s faculty and staff have already begun or completed the CITI course entitled “RCR – Basic Course for Faculty and Staff” and we encourage research-active faculty and staff to take the course as soon as convenient.

The course is self-paced and involves modules on the following topics: authorship, peer review, plagiarism, reproducibility, data management, and export control. The modules are informative and relevant, and the brief 5 question quizzes can be taken at any time during each module to memorialize completion.

Most researchers are already familiar with the CITI Program. This is the same utility used for basic responsible conduct instruction for human subjects in research, animal care and use, financial conflict of interest, and good clinical practices courses among other curricula. After logging in using your BlazerID and Password, follow the prompts to “Add a Course,” find and select the “RCR – Basic Course for Faculty and Staff” and complete the course at your convenience.

Online CITI Program Link: https://citiprogram.org/

In the coming weeks, cohorts from each school will be invited to help monitor timely completion and renewal of the Basic RCR Course for Faculty and Staff. This task will involve confirmation of course completion prior to the release of new, continuation, or supplemental awards. We will ask each Dean’s office to identify a resource who can help in this regard.

In the meantime, we ask that you share this news article with all research-active colleagues among the faculty and staff and encourage them to complete the course soon.

If you have questions or concerns regarding this matter, please e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..