RCR for Doctoral and Postdoctoral Researchers

Those doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers who have an RCR compliance requirement under an NIH training grant or an NSF research grant must complete the RCR-specific CITI training  and the 1 credit RCR course (ENG EK 800), within two (2) years of requirement notification. Other doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers may complete at any time.

Step 1. Complete RCR Training through CITI

The Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI)  RCR Training involves three online modules: Authorship, Data Management, and Research Misconduct, and takes 1-2 hours to complete. To enroll in the CITI course:

  1. Sign up for a CITI Account.
  2. Affiliate with Boston University (please note that if you affiliate with Boston University Medical Campus through CITI, you will not be able to access the RCR course).
  3. Select “Add a Course or Update Learner Groups”
  4. Select “BU RCR Program for Doctoral candidates and Post-Docs: All Audiences” and “Intro to RCR” courses.

Step 2. Register for the RCR course

The RCR course is a 1 credit, non-tuition bearing course (ENG EK 800) open to all PhD students and postdoctoral scholars. This 10-week course will meet once weekly for 60-minute sessions and fulfills the new National Science Foundation requirements as well as existing National Institutes of Health requirements. The course will be taught each term by faculty members as co-instructors. In the Spring 2025 semester, this course will meet on Tuesdays from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on the CAMED campus.

Doctoral and postdoctoral researchers who will be taking advanced RCR training should sign-up and complete the course within two years of requirement notification. Training must be performed once every four years and at each new career stage.

Doctoral students and Postdoctoral Associates can register through the MyBU Student Portal by using your BU username and Kerberos password. Please note that starting fall 2024, we are no longer accepting make-ups for past RCR workshops due to operational and logistical reasons. The syllabus for the spring 2025 RCR sessions will be on the following topics:

  • Inclusive Research Environments
  • Mentoring
  • Peer Review
  • Authorship
  • Data and Sample Management
  • Experimental Design
  • Rigor and Reproducibility
  • Conflict of Interest and Foreign Influence
  • Communicating Science for Societal Impact
  • Research Misconduct

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