Research Integrity

Any employee who has reason to suspect research misconduct should notify the  Research Integrity Officer (RIO) at MGH.

Partners requires that Principal Investigators (PIs) complete online training for Research Misconduct Prevention.  PIs have 60 days to complete the training after receiving notification from the Partners Research Compliance Office.  

The training is focused primarily on federal research misconduct requirements for Public Health Service-funded research ( e.g., NIH, CDC and FDA).  ​

All members of the research community – Co-Investigators, Research Associates, Postdoctoral Fellows, Graduate Students, and Research Administrators – are encouraged to complete the program.  

Postdoctoral Fellows are required to complete Health Stream education in Research Misconduct Prevention as part of new hire orientation.

Questions about the training?  Please contact:

Responsible conduct of research (RCR) training is required of students, trainees, and investigators with career development awards, who are supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) funds. The National Science Foundation (NSF) requires RCR training of undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows with any NSF support.

Researchers are required to complete 8 hours (8 credits) of in-person RCR training. Four hours (4 credits) are spent participating in the Partners (PHS) Seminar on RCR. The PHS seminar and CITI requirements must be completed within 12-months of the NIH or NSF appointment date or, if a direct award, e.g., an F or K award, as of the award effective date.

• PHS Seminar– offered two to three times per year alternating between the BWH and MGH campus.
• On-line training through the CITI (Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative) RCR Modules.

The remaining four hours (4 credits) must be spent participating in courses eligible for RCR credit. This would include courses on the following topics:

• Conflict of interest
• Policies regarding human subjects, live vertebrate animal subjects in research, and safe laboratory practices
• Mentor/mentee responsibilities and relationships
• Collaborative research including collaborations with industry
• Peer review
• Data acquisition and laboratory tools; management, sharing and ownership
• Research misconduct and policies for handling misconduct
• Responsible authorship and publication
• Scientists as responsible members of society, contemporary ethical issues in biomedical research, and the environmental and societal impacts of scientific research

The lecture component must be completed within 12 months of attendance at the PHS seminar.

Once RCR requirements have been fulfilled trainees are required to complete an RCR Attestation Form and submit to Partners Research Compliance.

The NIH requires individuals with three or more years of training support to complete additional RCR training. This requirement is completed online by completing three modules; Collaborative Research, Peer Review and Research Misconduct of the CITI Program Responsible Conduct of Research Refresher Course.  

Instructions on how to enroll and complete the modules can be found here. 

Once the RCR Refresher Course is completed, you are required to submit an  Refresher Course Attestation Form to PHSRCR@ partners.org . ​

Visit the Partners Responsible Conduct of Research website for more information.

Contact the Partners Research Compliance Office with questions or concerns.

Contact: