Enhancing Peer Review: The NIH Announces Updated Implementation Timeline

Notice Number: NOT-OD-09-023

Key Dates
Release Date: December 2, 2008

Update: The following update relating to this announcement has been issued:

  • December 22, 2009 - See Notice NOT-HS-10-002 AHRQ Announces Changes to Peer Review Processes, Evaluation Review Criteria, and New Application Forms for Grant Applications.
  • September 16, 2009 - See NOT-OD-149 for information on Restructured Application Forms and Instructions for Submissions for FY2011 Funding .

Issued by
National Institutes of Health (NIH), (http://www.nih.gov)

Background
The mission of the NIH is to support science in pursuit of knowledge about the biology and behavior of living systems and to apply that knowledge to extend healthy life and reduce the burdens of illness and disability. As part of this mission, applications submitted to the NIH for grants or cooperative agreements to support biomedical and behavioral research are evaluated for scientific and technical merit through the NIH peer review system. In June 2007, the NIH initiated a formal, agency-wide effort to review the NIH peer review system (http://enhancing-peer-review.nih.gov/). After careful deliberation and consideration of the recommendations resulting from this year-long effort, an initial implementation timeline for enhancing peer review was announced earlier this year (NOT-OD-08-118; http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-08-118.html). Below is the updated implementation timeline for key actions that will be implemented in the NIH peer review system.

Implementation


January 2009 Due Dates (for potential FY2010 funding)
  1. Early Stage Investigator (ESI) and New Investigator Policy (NOT-OD-09-013; http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-09-013.html)
  2. New NIH Policy on Resubmissions (NOT-OD-09-003: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-09-003.html)

May 2009 Review Meetings (for potential FY2010 funding)

  1. 9-Point Scoring System
  2. Enhanced Review Criteria
  3. Formatted Reviewer Critiques
  4. Scoring of Individual Review Criteria
  5. Clustering of New Investigator Applications During Review

January 2010 Due Dates (for potential FY2011 funding)

  1. Shorter Applications for R01s and Other Mechanisms
  2. Restructured Applications to Align with Review Criteria

Additional information is available in Guide Notices NOT-OD-09-024 Enhancing Peer Review: The NIH Announces New Scoring Procedures for Evaluation of Research Applications Received for Potential FY2010 Funding and NOT-OD-09-025 Enhancing Peer Review: The NIH Announces Enhanced Review Criteria for Evaluation of Research Applications Received for Potential FY2010 Funding .

Inquiries

Questions should be directed to EnhancingPeerReview@mail.nih.gov. For more information on NIH’s Enhancing Peer Review effort visit http://enhancing-peer-review.nih.gov/.