Authorship and Publication Practices: Evaluation of the Effect of Responsible Conduct of Research Instruction to Postdoctoral Trainees.

The authors studied postdoctoral trainees funded by National Institutes of Health F32 fellowship awards to test the effectiveness of responsible conduct of research (RCR) education in the areas of authorship and publication practices. Overall, the responses suggested a clear awareness of standards and practices in publication. However, the results failed to suggest that RCR education significantly increased the level of ethically appropriate behavioral responses measured in the study. The authors note the importance of careful articulation of course goals and objectives with attention to the background and experience of the student audience when developing RCR curricula.