Featured Articles - RCR Special Issue

Recent Questions in Responsible Conduct of Research
Levi Wood

Introduction
The U.S. academic research community was forced to address issues relating to the responsible conduct of research (RCR) in the late 1980s in response to numerous allegations of falsification, fabrication, and plagiarism (FFP) in federally funded research projects (Wheeler 1991). The first document to formally address issues of RCR, give guidelines defining research misconduct, and provide recommendations for how to establish institutional practices protecting against falsification of the research record was the 1992 report Responsible Science: Ensuring the Integrity of the Research Process published by the National Academies (NAS 1992). More...


Responsible Research in an International Laboratory: Personal Perspectives from a Lab Member and Principal Investigator
William J. Polacheck and Roger D. Kamm

Introduction
Scientific research is an increasingly global endeavor (Adams 2013). The growing cost of experimental research and demand for intellectual diversity has contributed, in part, to the dramatic rise in collaborative research activity (Adams 2013; Van Raan 1997).  More...

A Proposal for Thinking Strategically About Ethics Education: Applying the Principles of Andragogy to Enhance Teaching and Learning About Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR)
Camille Nebeker

Introduction
Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training is provided to students and post-doctoral trainees at academic institutions throughout the United States, primarily in response to federal funding requirements (NIH 1992; NIH 2009; NSF 2009). Core areas of instruction associated with RCR training (e.g., data management, conflict of interest, authorship, research subject protections) were initially identified by the National Institutes of Health (NIH 1992) and, later by the Public Health Service (PHS 2000).  More...

Deferred Consent in Emergency Care Research: A Comparative Perspective of South African Regulations
Andra le Roux-Kemp

Introduction
Voluntary informed consent for clinical research participation is the cornerstone of health research ethics. Yet, in many situations it is not possible for research subjects to give their full and informed consent, for example when they are under the age of 18 years, severely ill or when they suffer from a mental disability.  More...