What would you do if you were offered an opportunity to peer review a paper that includes research similar to a study you are about to submit for publication?
When feeling pressure to produce high-impact work in order to obtain funding or publish, how do you avoid rushing that could lead you to inadvertently misreport data?
How do you manage personality conflicts among people in your lab?
As part of the multifaceted process of conducting rigorous, reproducible research, scientists often grapple with challenging questions. While there are hard-and-fast rules for certain matters, many issues require interpretation and judgment to arrive at fair and ethical decisions.
Luckily, research ethics can be taught. Doing so equips young scientists to resolve knotty problems, avoid ethically compromising situations, and behave sensitively with collaborators and trainees.
The U.S. government mandates instruction in the responsible conduct of research for students and trainees who receive grants from agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
Harvard Medical School goes even further to safeguard research integrity by requiring training for all its PhD students and postdoctoral fellows, regardless of whether they are federally funded. This helps ensure that the next generation of HMS-trained biomedical researchers is behaving responsibly and ethically.
The way HMS delivers the instruction is also distinctive.
Grounding PhD students in research ethics
At HMS, PhD students take the Responsible Conduct of Science (RCOS) course during their second year and a refresher course during their sixth year. This allows the curriculum to be tailored to their experience level.
In 2024, nearly 300 PhD students enrolled — 179 second-years and 114 sixth-years. More than 30 junior and senior HMS faculty members from the School and its affiliated hospitals teach the course each year as volunteers, sharing a range of expertise to guide the future biomedical research workforce.
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While it might be more efficient to deliver a few large lectures, HMS provides approximately 30 sections each fall with just 8–12 students in each — an approach that is regarded by the NIH as the gold standard, said Aimee Hollander, course coordinator and lecturer on microbiology in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS.
The curriculum is case-based, and the small sections allow faculty and students to engage deeply in discussions about challenging real-life scenarios.
“The small-group discussions are useful because that’s how you will encounter the problems in practice, in small groups in a lab or research group at a company,” said James Warner, an eighth-year Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences doctoral student in the HMS Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program in Genetics and Genomics.
“It’s good that the School gives you protected time to explicitly talk about these important issues when there aren’t other stakes involved like getting a paper out or going over a hurdle for a grant application,” Warner added.
The courses undergo continuous improvement, including ongoing facilitator training and a recent overhaul of the learning objectives by a group of science education leaders known as HMS Curriculum Fellows.
Training early-career scientists in responsible conduct
Postdoctoral researchers in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS are expected to take nine Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) classes during their time at the School. Usually, they complete the requirement during the first year of their research experience. Postdocs from all Harvard schools and HMS affiliates are welcome to enroll.
The sessions are organized by the HMS/Harvard School of Dental Medicine Office for Postdoctoral Fellows and the HMS Center for Bioethics. One topic-focused, 90-minute seminar is offered each month from September through May, spreading out the classes over the academic year.
“We could do this in a week-long chunk where the new postdocs are doing nothing but RCR, but that takes them out of the lab,” said Jim Gould, director of postdoctoral affairs and RCR course director at HMS.
Postdocs can relate what they learn in the classroom to their experiences in the lab as they progress, which makes the training more meaningful, added Joni Beshansky, senior associate director of education at the Center for Bioethics who directs the RCR program at HMS.
About 300 postdocs are enrolled each year in person and in some interactive online classes.
Furnishing the tools
Topics of responsible conduct of science and research trainings range from narrower areas, such as crediting authors in publications, to expansive matters, such as collaborating with scientists in academia or industry.
The courses explore good scientific citizenship in the lab and in the public eye, tackling questions such as how scientists communicate and explain their science, whether they should advocate and work to build public trust in science, and what they can do to influence policymaking.
“Many of these challenging experiences are universal, and we’re learning things we can do to overcome them,” said Warner.
Another important area is mentorship and how researchers should behave respectfully with fellow lab members, said Gould.
“Outside of bullying, discrimination, and sexual harassment, there aren’t any hard and fast policies or rules, so this training provides guidelines and best practices for appropriate and effective mentorship,” he said.
Trainees learn where they can report research- or personnel-related issues. Staff from the HMS ombuds and research integrity offices co-lead certain classes.
One objective is to give scientists a toolbox to solve any problems that arise, said Mary Loeken, HMS associate professor of medicine (physiology) at Joslin Diabetes Center, who has taught the Responsible Conduct of Science course since the early 1990s.
Another is to let students know that they’re not alone.
“There’s an infrastructure and resources available to support them,” said Matthew Warman, HMS professor of genetics at Boston Children’s Hospital, another longtime RCOS instructor.
Infusing best practices
All classes are underscored by the School’s efforts to support respectful discourse and inclusive excellence. This creates an atmosphere where developing scientists can openly converse about best practices and what is expected of them as professionals so that, with faculty guidance, they can work out what ethical and responsible behavior looks like.
Once they enter the workforce, HMS doctoral and postdoctoral researchers will have a firm grounding in research ethics and the support systems they can tap as their careers develop and science advances.
The training in research ethics and responsible conduct doesn’t end with trainees. HMS and its affiliated hospitals provide other continuing learning opportunities for faculty involved in research and are developing additional options as requirements from the government change.
“Even if I am unable to recall specific bullet points from these classes,” said Warner, “I have been left with a better sense of a moral compass and will be able to adapt to how science and technology change in the future.”
