The US National Science Foundation is continuing its policy aimed at fostering good research despite a report noting issues with the agency's approach, ScienceInsider reports.
Its policy, which is congressionally mandated, requires that each institution that receives NSF funds certify that its students are receiving training in good research practices. ScienceInsider notes that the agency allows the institutions to define what appropriate training in responsible research conduct entails. It adds, though, that a report from NSF Office of Inspector General has found that nearly a quarter of NSF-funded institutions don't have responsible conduct of research training plans and that about two-thirds of institutions rely on a short online course for training.
But ScienceInsider says NSF will be sending out a reminder to research institutions about their responsible research conduct training requirements. This, it adds, keeps the institutions in charge of training. "It is the responsibility of each institution to determine both the content and the delivery method for the training that will meet their specific needs," Joan Ferrini-Mundy, NSF's chief operating officer, tells ScienceInsider.
She adds that the reminder will include examples of good training approaches. But ScienceInsider notes that it won't mention the report nor include its any of its suggestions to improve the agency's oversight of training.