Responsible Conduct of Research for the Sciences

Students conducting research that is funded by the National Science Foundation must complete a responsible conduct of research course before conducting the research. In addition, all students conducting summer research with an Allegheny faculty mentor must complete a responsible conduct of research course before June 1, 2010. To satisfy that mandate, Allegheny College has contracted with the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) to provide an on-line course. This course is designed for students conducting research that does not involve human participants. If your research includes human participants, you are required to complete an additional certification and submit information to the Institutional Review Board (IRB). Please click here for information about the IRB.

If the research does not involve human participants, the links under Resources to the right connect you to the instructions needed to register with CITI and a link to the CITI home page. In addition, there is a link to the Belmont Report which has served as the basis for defining ethical conduct in research, particularly human research.

Once you begin the course, you may stop and save your work at any time. To receive certification, you must achieve an over all score of at least 80% for the required modules. Please remember that individual scores are not reported to Allegheny College. All that the College receives is a notification when a registered individual successfully completes the required modules. Certification is valid for a three year period.