Responsible Conduct of Research Topic Areas

Understanding best practices around scholarly writing and communications, open access/institutional repositories, falsification/fabrication/plagiarism, research conduct standards, and other academic and research integrity topics.  

Understanding conflicts encountered by researchers, including financial or business-related conflicts or conflicts associated with research collaborations, are an essential part of responsible conduct of research.   

Understanding the peer review process and the responsibilities of reviewers, including maintaining confidentiality and security in the peer review process, is an essential component of conducting responsible research.  

Understanding how to effectively manage project budgets, research travel, and ensuring compliance with sponsors and policies (especially when working with research-appropriated funds), is an important part of responsible research.  

Students should consider several ethical issues in conducting research with human participants or subjects, including (but not limited to) risks and benefits to research participants or subjects, informed consent, at-risk populations, confidentiality, and the role of institutional review boards in approving such research. 

Familiarity with management, protection, and licensing of researchers' intellectual property. Resources for understanding the rights of faculty and students to intellectual property and information about patents, and licensing, can be found on the Research Support and Resources page.  

Understanding best practices for research collaboration and the ethical issues that may arise from such scholarly research collaborations, particularly in cross-institutional collaboration, is critical to conducting responsible research.

Fabrication, Falsification, and Plagiarism (FFP) constitute research misconduct. Therefore, understanding the regulations and policies governing research misconduct and how to report an allegation of research misconduct is an integral part of responsible research.  

Students must conduct research that promotes the safety of researchers, research participants, and the research environment. Researchers using biohazardous material, radioisotopes, or other potentially hazardous materials should be sure to obtain appropriate approvals for use, adequate training necessary to properly handle and dispose of hazardous materials, and follow proper safety procedures. Questions or concerns regarding research safety should be directed to the Office of Regulatory Research Compliance (ORRC).

Awareness of ethical issues related to accepted practice in research publication, authorship, and the responsibilities of the author(s) to research participants and subjects and to the scholarly community is an essential aspect of conducting responsible research. 

Understanding the roles and responsibilities of mentors and trainees in research activities to avoid conflicts that can arise from such a relationship. Best practices such as individual development plans and mentorship agreements foster responsible research collaboration and an environment of trust between mentors and their advisees. 

Research should take place in environments that promote inclusion, foster collaboration, and are free of sexual, racial, ethnic, disability, and other forms of discriminatory harassment.  

Responsibly acquiring, selecting, analyzing, and retaining data, as well as the confidentiality and ownership (including IP and copyright concerns) of data, electronic data collection and storage, and privacy concerns related to data all constitute responsible conduct of research. 

The ethical principles and federal regulations governing research involving animals, treatment of animals, and institutional animal care and use committees are an essential part of the responsible conduct of research.