RCR stands for Responsible Conduct of Research. The responsible and ethical conduct of research is critical for excellence, as well as maintaining the public trust in research, both for individual students, professors, and staff and for UAB as an institution.

UAB policy, in alignment with the expectations of federal (i.e. the COMPETES Act and NSPM 33) and non-federal funding agencies, and various publishers require basic RCR training for everyone engaged in research and scholarship.

The PI/department is responsible for ensuring that all supported trainees, fellows, and scholars receive the required instruction. Trainee records are maintained in their official transcripts as successful completion of GRD717. Faculty and Staff completions are maintained in the CITI Program® as well as the IRAP® system.

All trainees, faculty, and staff engaged in research and scholarship at UAB must complete certain RCR requirements. For these purposes, engagement in research or scholarship generally applies to anyone who may be an author on a scholarly production such as a manuscript or a presentation or serve as an investigator, key, or responsible person on a sponsored project or compliance (IRB, IACUC, CIRB, or IBC) protocol.

Trainees - Students, Post-docs, Fellows:

For trainees (including, but not limited to students, post-docs, and fellows), online RCR training alone is not sufficient to meet this training requirement and they are required to complete a comprehensive suite of RCR courses through the CITI Program® as well as to enroll and pass GRD717 early in their traineeship at UAB.

To meet these expectations and requirements, graduate students engaged in any mentored research or scholarship activities at UAB are required to complete the RCR training plan described below either in their first year of mentored research or scholarship. Postdocs and fellows must complete GRD717 their first year of employment with UAB.

The trainee training plan is a blended approach that combines a comprehensive RCR curriculum through the online CITI Program® and and intensive in-person facilitated training component offered as GRD717.

Faculty and Staff:

Faculty and staff must complete a six-course curriculum covering authorship, data management, mentorship, peer review, plagiarism, and reproducibility. The faculty and staff curriculum is offered through the CITI Program®. Faculty and staff must complete the curriculum prior to service as an investigator, key, or responsible personnel on a sponsored project or a compliance protocol (IRB, IACUC, CIRB, IBC).

UAB has contracted with a third party, Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI), to provide an online training in RCR.

Please review the requirements shown on the website: https://www.uab.edu/research/home/uab-rcr-training

It can take 1-3 hours generally. These online courses can be taken at any time of the day, and you also do not need complete the entire course in one sitting. Once you complete any of the modules, you may take the test and exit the program. When you log in the next time, CITI will allow you to start from where you left off.

At the end of each module, your test score for that module is displayed. If you have scored less than 80%, you should review the material and re-take the test. If you must re-take any test, do so before completing all modules and generating a completion certificate. Once the certificate is generated, your grade is fixed.