Responsible Conduct of Research and Rigor & Reproducibility

Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR)

RCR Certificate - Research Education (REd)

The REd “Responsible Conduct of Research Certificate – Student” requires five (5) REd RCR training class completions that add up to a total of ten (10) contact hours. All students MUST complete the four (4) required classes and one (1) additional class from either the offerings for “bioscience students”or “non-biosciences students.” Please note that each class credit is valid for eighteen (18) months and the entire RCR Certificate is valid for three (3) years upon completion. As a result, it is advised that you renew your RCR Certificate every three (3) years.

Required Classes for All Students:

Foundations of Responsible Conduct of Research
Advanced Consideration of the Criteria for IRB Approval of Research
Getting Published: Responsible Authorship and Peer Review
Mentoring Roles and Responsibilities

Bioscience Student Electives (select at least 1)

Data and Safety Monitoring: Plans, Boards & Committees
Managing and Maintaining Your Scholarly Profile
Research Participants and the Informed Consent Process
Rigor, Transparency, and Reproducibility in Research
Source Documentation in Clinical Research

Courses

Case Studies in Research Ethics (PHIL7570/MBIOL 7570): This University of Utah course meets the federal requirement for ethics and research integrity training for all students who work on federally funded studies. The course offers an examination of research integrity and other ethical issues involved in scientific research. Topics may include scientific fraud, conflicts of interest, plagiarism and authorship designation, and the role of science in formulating social policy.

This course is designed for graduate students, post-docs, and regular faculty in the sciences.

Rigor & Reproducibility

Irreproducibility of research is a growing concern as valuable time is wasted pursuing false leads and consuming significant resources, often from publicly funded federal grantees. Various efforts in academia and the scientific community are underway to improve transparency and robustness in publications and to promote a culture of increased experimental reproducibility.

The following university and national resources are available to trainees and faculty to promote a scientific culture that values rigor and reproducibility.

U of Utah Research Education (REd)

Rigor, Transparency, and Reproducibility in Research
Research Reproducibility 2018: Grand Rounds
- The Role of the Error Term in Making Research Reproducible - A Statistical Perspective
- The Roles of Post-Hoc Analyses in Reproducible Research - A Statistical Perspective
- Publishing Pressures as Propagators of Poor Research Practices
- Positively Misleading Errors
- Peer Review and Research Reproducibility
- A New Conceptual Model for Coordinating Different Strategies to Enhance Replicability
- Digital Imaging and Peer Review: What is Allowed? What is Not Allowed? What is Fake?
- Workflow Management and Research Reproducibility
- Incentives to Embrace Change: Initiatives to Promote Research Reproducibility
- Reproducibility and Qualitative Research
- Reproducible Informatics for Reproducible Research
- Systematic Reviews: Peer Reviewing Search Strategies
- Software for Reproducibility