The importance of expanding current training in the responsible conduct of research

Despite the growing need to teach principles of the responsible conduct of research (RCR) to those training to be biomedical researchers, no descriptive, easily compared information about the nation's RCR programs exists. To draw some preliminary conclusions about the state of RCR education and training and to gain insight into what kinds of future initiatives are needed, the authors reviewed materials describing U.S. training programs in RCR that had been collected by the Department of Health and Human Services in June-August 1996. In direct response to a 1990 federal policy, formal RCR training programs have been established at many institutions that carry out research. This policy requires that recipients of National Research Service Award Institutional Research Training Grants from the National Institutes of Health provide RCR training to the predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees supported by these grants. The authors found that two thirds of the 45 institutions represented in the materials provided RCR training only to those trainees whom they were required to train, although among the rest of the institutions, a few required that all trainees receive such training. The training programs studied were quite diverse regarding who was responsible for the program (the principal investigator, the ethics faculty, etc.), what kinds of instruction were given (lectures, seminars, small-group discussions, etc.), course content, and how discipline-specific the focus was. The authors review the obstacles to effective RCR training (e.g., the needs for culture change and for sizable faculty, financial, course time, and administrative resources; the need for proper evaluation of programs) and discuss ways to foster such programs (e.g., sharing of resources; identifying competencies; tailoring teaching to the individual institution's and department's characteristics; public-private partnerships). They conclude that the institutional efforts needed to establish widespread and effective RCR training are more than justified by the result that such training will help foster: the integrity of the research process and a solid future for the research enterprise.