Academic Integrity

The central activities and missions of a university rest upon the fundamental assumption that all members of the university community conduct themselves in accordance with a strict adherence to academic and scholarly integrity. The UCF commitment and expectations are included in the Faculty Handbook (Ethical Conduct of the University Community, pages 45-47) and in the Golden Rule and its associated UCF regulations (UCF-5.008, www.regulations.ucf.edu/chapter5/index.html). Guidance may be found in Information Literacy and the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning (Classroom Management, Academic Integrity) and is reinforced through the offerings of the University Writing Center, the UCF Libraries, and other services on campus.

To maintain this atmosphere in the UCF graduate community, it is crucial that all students are made aware of the expectations of academic integrity, the responsibilities associated with research and scholarly work, and the consequences associated with the failure to abide by these expectations. Faculty plays an important role in this effort.

In support of this effort, the College of Graduate Studies and the Office of Research and Commercialization coordinate a series of ethics/responsible conduct of research (RCR) workshops. The online Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) “Responsible Conduct of Research” training is available for free.

While the fostering of academic and scholarly integrity applies to all students, the Graduate Council and Faculty Senate have approved a policy requiring doctoral students entering UCF in Fall 2011 and later to complete Academic Integrity Training prior to the student’s advancement to candidacy. For more details, see the pages listed below on this website.

Advising Students about Academic Integrity

Information for UCF Graduate Students

• Academic Honesty Flyer
• Academic Integrity Training

UCF Resources

Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning

• UCF Plagiarism Statement
• Cheating and Plagiarism Resources

Information Literacy, Students, Avoiding Plagiarism Using MLA Style

UCF Libraries, Grammar and Writing: Avoiding Plagiarism

Other Resources

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Research Integrity (ori.hhs.gov/Handling Misconduct—Case Summaries)

Academic Integrity Training Requirement

Starting Fall 2011, all students newly admitted to doctoral programs must complete training designed to inculcate an awareness and understanding of the fundamental issues of academic integrity and the responsible conduct of research (RCR) in a manner that is consistent with federal regulations. This happens through the Pathways to Success Program offered through the Graduate Student Center.

A doctoral student who has not completed the required training in academic integrity and the responsible conduct of research by their appropriate deadlines will not be advanced to candidacy.

Note: Doctoral students who are readmitted with a new catalog year are required to meet the academic integrity requirements. Doctoral students who are moved forward in catalog year administratively are not required to meet the academic integrity requirements.

Policy

• Graduate Catalog, Academic Integrity Training

Required Training

The academic integrity required training includes:

1. The online Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) Responsible Conduct of Research training in the appropriate disciplinary area; and
2. Four face-to-face ethics/RCR workshops coordinated by the College of Graduate Studies and the Office of Research and Commercialization or an approved alternative training offered as a program requirement for all students in the program. Students must take at least two CORE workshops and at least two other CORE or ELECTIVE workshops for a total of four workshops. Students in a program that has approved alternative ethics/RCR training must still complete the online CITI Responsible Conduct of Research training in the appropriate disciplinary area.

Both the CITI training and workshops are provided at no cost and are open to all UCF graduate students and postdoctoral associates. For the ethics/RCR workshops, priority is given to doctoral students who are required to complete these workshops prior to advancement to candidacy.

CITI Responsible Conduct of Research Training

The Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) Program is an organization that provides online research ethics education to all members of the research community, including more than a thousand U.S. and international institutions. Provided at no cost to researchers, this training includes several training courses with options for different disciplines.

You are encouraged to take advantage of this free CITI training. This educational resource is open to all faculty, graduate students and postdoctoral associates. Please consult the UCF Institutional Review Board (IRB) for guidance on CITI training required for specific research projects.

Creating-a-CITI-Account-for-the-First-Time

• Go to www.citiprogram.org
• Follow the instructions on the CITI Main Menu to create a user account for yourself, giving special attention to this field
  • Select “University of Central Florida” as your institution
• On the second registration page, provide the information requested by UCF, giving special attention to these fields
  • Institutional email address – Enter your UCF email address
  • UCF Employee Number – Enter your UCF ID number (e.g., 1234567)
• On the Select Curriculum page, scroll down to question 2, Responsible Conduct of Research, and select the course in the appropriate disciplinary area for you
• On the next registration page, you may also affiliate yourself with another institution, if you wish. Otherwise, select No.
• You have now completed CITI registration. In the My Courses section on the CITI Main Menu, you should see the Responsible Conduct of Research course. To start the course, click the red Enter link in the Status column.

Read the instructions carefully before you begin so you will know what you must do in order to receive credit for completing the Responsible Conduct of Research training. You may choose to complete the training in one session or in multiple sessions. Always follow the instructions carefully in order to save your work and remember to check your progress as you go.

Once you have completed your CITI training, please send a copy of your certificate of completion to gradworkshops@ucf.edu.

Waiver from Attending Ethics/RCR Workshops

The academic integrity and responsible conduct of research (RCR) policy allow the required ethics/RCR workshops to be waived if the doctoral program provides an approved alternative training that is required of all students in the program. The following guidelines provide instruction to those doctoral programs desiring to develop alternative training as a substitute for the required workshops.

1. A course that has significant content addressing fundamental academic integrity/RCR concepts must be specified and required of all doctoral students in the program. A syllabus of the specified course showing the content and the course format (lectures, discussions of case studies, online chat rooms, etc.) must be filed with the College of Graduate Studies for approval. While programs are strongly encouraged to weave a thread of academic integrity/RCR training throughout their curriculum, it is necessary to have one course identified that addresses fundamental ethical/RCR concepts so that the student can be verified on his/her degree audit as meeting the academic integrity/RCR requirement at the time of candidacy. Students are only waived from the face-to-face ethics/RCR workshops after completing the specified course.
2. The specified course must include content that addresses the following fundamental ethical/RCR concepts:
   • Avoiding plagiarism, including a discussion of self-plagiarism
   • Attributing authorship, including discussions of collaborative scholarship and the appropriate assignment of credit to the collaborators
   • Integrity in data collection, including discussions of the fabrication of data (i.e., making up data) and the falsification of data (i.e., manipulating research data through omission or massaging of the data, or by manipulating processes, materials or equipment so that the research is not accurately represented in the record)
   • Personal integrity in an academic setting, including discussions of recognizing conflicts of interests (both personal and financial), integrity in face-to-face and online examinations, and respectful and professional behavior when interacting with others
3. The specified course should include case studies that lead to free-flowing discussions of the fundamental ethical/RCR concepts described above. Online courses that are specified for meeting the ethical/RCR requirements must show that they have mechanisms that encourage such discussion. The National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Council of Graduate Schools have strongly recommended that education in ethics and the responsible conduct of research include open discussions among students and faculty members that are centered on case studies.

It is recognized that the above is not a comprehensive listing of all of the ethical training that your students may need in their doctoral education. Therefore, programs are strongly encouraged to not only reinforce the above concepts throughout the curriculum but also train your students in the other areas of ethical conduct as required by their research and your profession.

Programs Currently Approved for Waiver

• Clinical Psychology PhD – Syllabus
• Curriculum and Instruction EdD (previously named Education EdD) – Syllabus
• Education PhD – Syllabus
• Educational Leadership EdD – Executive Track – Syllabus
• Educational Leadership EdD – Higher Education Track (waiver applies only to students admitted as of Fall 2019 or later) – Syllabus
• Hospitality Management PhD – Syllabus
• Industrial and Organizational Psychology PhD – Syllabus
• Kinesiology PhD – Syllabus
• Nursing DNP – Syllabus
• Nursing PhD – Syllabus
• Physical Therapy DPT (waiver applies only to students admitted as of Summer 2020 or later) – Syllabus
• Sociology PhD (waiver applies only to students admitted prior to Fall 2017) – Syllabus

Questions?

Contact Dr. John Weishampel in the College of Graduate Studies if you have questions about requesting this waiver.

Contact the College of Graduate Studies (407-823-2766 or gradworkshops@ucf.edu) if you or your students have questions about academic integrity training.