Federal agencies require that grant recipients comply with Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training requirements in recognition of the importance of research integrity and in the responsible and ethical conduct of research as part of the America COMPETES Act (America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science (COMPETES) Act).

Who must be trained?

Agency PI Undergraduate Students Grad Students Post Doctoral Program Director Staff
NIH*   X X X    
NSF X X X X    
USDA X X X X X X


Frequency & format of training

Agency Frequency Format
NIH* Every four (4) years At least eight (8) face-to-face contact hours. Online supplemental instruction may be used for a portion
NSF Once Fully online via CITI
USDA Once Fully online via CITI


Principal Investigators of active NIH, NSF, and USDA grants must provide the Office of Sponsored Research and Federal Relations with verification that the applicable parties impacted by the grant have completed the RCR training.

Use CITI for online RCR training

After completing the CITI online training module, please provide copies of certification of completion for each person in need of training to the Office of Sponsored Research and Federal Relations at least annually or more frequently as required.

How to Access CITI online: Fort Lewis College is not listed in the "Login through my Institution" option, so:

  • Go to the CITI webpage and choose “Register”
  • Under "Select Your Organization Affiliation” type “Fort Lewis College” and check the boxes to agree to the Terms of Service and that you are an affiliate of Fort Lewis College
  • Then enter the requested information to create your account
  • Do not use the "Login through my Institution" option

NIH annual RCR training

Ongoing face-to-face RCR training is coordinated and delivered by the Undergraduate Research Support Coordinator on campus. Contact Dr. Christine Smith for the schedule of current face-to-face RCR trainings. Training topics include:

  • Conflict of interest personal, professional, and financial and conflict of commitment, in allocating time, effort, or other research resources.
  • Policies regarding human subjects, live vertebrate animal subjects in research, and safe laboratory practices.
  • Mentor/mentee responsibilities and relationships.
  • Safe research environments (e.g., those that promote inclusion and are free of sexual, racial, ethnic, disability and other forms of discriminatory harassment).
  • Collaborative research, including collaborations with industry and investigators and institutions in other countries.
  • Peer review, including the responsibility for maintaining confidentiality and security in peer review.
  • Data acquisition and analysis; laboratory tools (e.g., tools for analyzing data and creating or working with digital images); record-keeping practices, including methods such as electronic laboratory notebooks.
  • Secure and ethical data use; data confidentiality, 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.

Helpful links

  • * NIH RCR – This notice applies the following programs: D43, D71, F05, F30, F31, F32, F33, F34, F37, F38, K01, K02, K05, K07, K08, K12, K18, K22, K23, K24, K25, K26, K30, K99/R00, KL1, KL2, R25, R36, T15, T32, T34, T35, T36, T37, T90/R90, TL1, TU2, and U2R. This policy also applies to any other NIH-funded programs supporting research training, career development, or research education that require instruction in responsible conduct of research as stated in the relevant funding opportunity announcements.
  • NOT-OD-10-019 – 2009 Update to Requirement for Instruction in the Responsible Conduct of Research
  • NOT-OD-22-055 – 2022 Updated Guidance: Requirement for Instruction in the Responsible Conduct of Research
  • NSF RECR 
  • USDA RCR