Impacts of Responsible Conduct of Research Education on the Career and Practice of Graduating Fellows

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of the Fogarty/NIH-funded Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Education Fellowship Program on scientists’ RCR activities and practices by following up on 110 of 117 fellows who graduated from the program. The results suggest that the program played a crucial role in promoting RCR activities among the fellows, leading to positive outcomes such as publications in research ethics (64%), attendance of RCR conferences (68.2%), conducting training workshops (74.2%), developing training RCR modules (44%) and institutional ethics guidelines (28%), serving on research ethics committees (48.2%), and providing RCR consultations (52.9%). Most fellows reported significant (high to moderate) improvement in the implementation of ethics/research standards in their work (88%) and in their institutions’ commitment to RCR (75%). In conclusion, the study strongly suggests the role that RCR training might play in enhancing RCR education and ethical practices among researchers and their institutions in the low and middle-income Middle Eastern and North African countries.

Keywords

Ethics training fogarty scientific integrity career development MENA Jordan

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