Simplified Review Framework for NIH Research Project Grant Applications - Effective January 25, 2025
Posted April 3, 2024
Simplified Review Framework for NIH Research Project Grant Applications - Effective January 25, 2025
Discipline(s): All
The National Institutes of Health recently announced a streamlined format for application review criteria, effective January 25, 2025. The changes will apply to the grants and cooperative agreements with the following RPG activity codes: DP1, DP2, DP3, DP4, DP5, R01, R03, R15, R16, R21, R33, R34, R36, R61, RC1, RC2, RC4, RF1, RL1, RL2, U01, U34, U3R, UA5, UC1, UC2, UC4, UF1, UG3, UH2, UH3, UH5.
It is anticipated that additional implementation details will be provided mid-2024.
The Simplified Framework for NIH Peer Review initiative reorganizes the five regulatory criteria (Significance, Investigators, Innovation, Approach, Environment; 42 C.F.R. Part 52h.8) into three factors – two will receive numerical criterion scores and one will be evaluated for sufficiency. All three factors will be considered in arriving at the overall impact score. The reframing of the criteria serves to focus reviewers on three central questions reviewers should be evaluating: How important is the proposed research, how rigorous and feasible are the methods, and whether the investigators and institution have the expertise/resources necessary to carry out the project.
- Factor 1: Importance of the Research (Significance, Innovation), scored 1-9
- Factor 2: Rigor and Feasibility (Approach), scored 1-9
- Factor 3: Expertise and Resources (Investigator, Environment), to be evaluated with a selection from a drop-down menu
- Appropriate (no written explanation needed)
- Identify need for additional expertise and/or resources (requires reviewer to briefly address specific gaps in expertise or resources needed to carry out the project)
The change to having peer reviewers assess the adequacy of investigator expertise and institutional resources as a binary choice is designed to have reviewers evaluate investigator and environment with respect to the work proposed. It is intended to reduce the potential for general scientific reputation to have an undue influence.
For further information, see NOT-OD-24-010.
