Responsible Conduct of Research

All persons conducting research at CUNY must be trained in the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR). For the purposes of federal policy, RCR is defined as the practice of scientific investigation with integrity. It involves the awareness and application of established professional norms and ethical principles in the performance of all activities related to scientific research.

As a result of federal policies governing grants, all institutions applying for financial assistance for research must have a plan in place to train all personnel conducting the studies described in the project, as well as provide instruction in the ethical conduct of research. Therefore, all personnel will be required to complete the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) Responsible Conduct of Research online training module. The training module can be accessed from the vice chancellor's website at http://www.cuny.edu/research/compliance/training-education.html.

CUNY's policy (see the written policy here) was put in place to address growing regulations from both NSF and NIH. NSF requires institutions to certify existence of a plan as well as additional documentation for post-doctoral mentoring. NIH requires that all trainees, fellows, participants and scholars receive instruction in RCR (see NIH notice NOT-OD-10-019 for details).

In addition to RCR training, please note that all CUNY personnel conducting research are subject to the following policies.

CUNY Research Misconduct Policy 
CUNY Conflict of Interest Policy  

Anyone applying for a research grant, whether funded internally or externally, will be asked to provide a copy of his or her current certificate of completion. RCR certificates are valid for three years.

To find out more about CUNY’s plan to meet these requirements, please follow this link to the Office of Research Compliance at CUNY’s central offices.