# Presentation: 501880

## Peer Review WorkshopMentored K Awardees Meeting

- Eliane Lazar-Wesley, PhD
- Scientific Review Officer
- Office of Extramural Affairs
- National Institute on Drug Abuse
- July 24-25, 2008

## Review Process for a Research Grant

**Principal**
**Investigator**

**School or Other**
**Research Center**

**National Institutes of Health**

**Initiates**
**Research Idea**

**Conducts Research**

**Submits**
**Application**

**Allocates**
**Funds**

**Center for Scientific Review**

**Scientific Review Group**

**Institute**

**Advisory Council or Board**

**Institute Director**

**Assign to**

**IC +/- SRG**

**Reviews **
**  ****for**

**Scientific**
**Merit**

**Evaluates for**

**Relevance**

**Recommends**

**Action**

## Serves as central receipt point for most PHS grant applications
Assigns applications to CSR Study Sections or Institute Scientific Review Groups for merit review
Assigns applications to NIH Institutes as potential funding components
Conducts initial scientific merit review of most research applications submitted to the NIH in about 220 Study Sections and regularly recurring special emphasis panels

**Assigns applications to CSR Study Sections or Institute Scientific Review Groups for merit review**
**Assigns applications to NIH Institutes as potential funding components**
**Conducts initial scientific merit review of most research applications submitted to the NIH in about 220 Study Sections and regularly recurring special emphasis panels**

**Center for Scientific Review  (CSR)**

## Where Are Applications Reviewed and How Are Assignments Made?

**Review groups are located both in the Center for Scientific Review and in the separate Institutes**
**Assignments are based on guidelines**
**Institutes review certain specific types of science and mechanisms, i.e. centers**
**CSR does more generic review**
**Applicants are invited to self-refer**

## Second Level of Review
  Council
Assesses Quality of  SRG
Review of Grant Applications
Makes Recommendation to Institute Staff on Funding
Evaluates Program Priorities and Relevance
Advises on Policy

**  ****Scientific Review Group (SRG)**
- Provides Initial Scientific Merit Review of Grant Applications
- Rates Applications and Makes Recommendations for Appropriate Level of Support and Duration of Award

- Second Level of Review
**  ****Council**
- Assesses Quality of  SRG
- Review of Grant Applications
- Makes Recommendation to Institute Staff on Funding
- Evaluates Program Priorities and Relevance
- Advises on Policy

**Dual Review System for Grant Applications**

## Find Opportunity & Download Package

**New paradigm: ALL applications must be submitted in response to a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA)**
**NIH simultaneously posts FOAs in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts and Grants.gov**
**The NIH Guide**
**	****grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/index.html**

## Office of Extramural Researchhttp://grants.nih.gov/grants/oer.htm

**Office of Extramural Research****http://grants.nih.gov/grants/oer.htm**

**New “Parent” FOA page added for quick reference to unsolicited applications.**

## So ... What Type of GrantIs Right for Me?

- Stage of research career?
- 	- experience and expertise?
- Research needs?
- 	- mentors or collaborators?
- 	- size of project?

**Talk with staff ... **
**We will help you find the right funding mechanism***.*

## Working with NIH Staff --The NIH Extramural Team

**Grants**
**Management**

**Review**
**Staff**

**Program**
**Staff**

**Notes:**
The NIH Extramural Team 

consists of review, program, and grants management segments.  

   The NIH seeks to ensure integrity and accountability in it grants administration processes by 
Relying on system of checks and balances
separation of responsibilities

None of theses entities are responsible for or report to the other.  Although these segments are separate and distinct, but do overlap in small but significant ways.  

## When Preparing an Application

**Read the FOA carefully and make sure your application addresses the goals of the FOA**
**Never assume that reviewers “will know what you mean”**
**Obtain pre-review from colleagues**
**Tell a coherent story**
**Write clearly, for a multidisciplinary audience**
**Embed your ideas in a larger scientific/public health context**

## Electronic Submission Process

**Prepare to Apply**

**Find Opportunity and Download Application Package**

**Submit Application to Grants.gov ****(AOR submits)**

**Prepare Application**

**Check Submission Status in Commons**

**Check Assembled Application**

**Submission Complete**

## System Check of Application May Result in Errors & Warnings

**Errors **_**must**_** be addressed for the application to move on to NIH Receipt & Referral.**
**An application must be error-free in order for eRA systems to generate an image of the application for viewing.**
**Warnings may be fixed at the applicant’s discretion but do not require action for the application to move on.**
**If the PI corrects any Warnings or Errors, they should contact the AOR/SO.  The AOR/SO must submit the entire ‘Changed/Corrected’ application again through Grants.gov.**

## Application Image – Viewing Window

- After NIH receives an error-free application, an assembled application image is generated and placed in the eRA Commons.
- Applicants have **two weekdays** (M-F *including holidays*) to view the assembled application before it automatically moves forward to NIH’s Division of Receipt and Referral.
- Signing Official (SO) has option to “Reject”.
- If “Rejected” after receipt date for any reasonother than a system formatting issue, subsequent corrected submission is subject to the NIH late policy.
- PI will receive e-mail notification if SO rejects application.

## Your application is here.

## About Receipt and Referral

**With >70,000 applications to process each year (>20,000 each round), some mistakes are made**
**Therefore, you may want to keep track of the progress of your application**

## Deciphering the Application Number

- 1 R01 DA 12345 - 01  A1

**Type**

**Mechanism**

**Version**

**Serial Number**

**Funding Institute**

**Year**

## What do I do if my application has been mis-assigned? 

**Contact the SRO of the committee to which the application has been assigned and find out if s/he agrees that it has been mis-assigned**
**If so, s/he will most likely contact the SRO of the more appropriate review committee and pursue reassigning the application**

## What does an SRO do? 

**Assesses scientific knowledge and review skills of potential reviewers and selects study section members**
**Analyzes applications for completeness and determines who will review them. Manages and oversees scientific peer review group meetings and is legally responsible for ensuring NIH regulations and policies are followed**
**Prepares summary statements reflecting study section recommendations**
**Authorizes release of scores and summary statements**

## Questions about review

**What is streamlining? Percentiling?**
**How is my score determined? **
**What are the review criteria?**
**What is a summary statement?**
**What goes on in a review meeting?**
**Who are the reviewers?**
**Can I contact staff? Who and when? How?**

## Things that Reviewers Don’t Like

**Diffuse or unfocused research plan**
**Studies lack cohesiveness**
**Insufficient detail**
**Insufficient evidence of knowledge of relevant literature**
**Unrealistically large amount of work**
**Uncertainty concerning future directions**
**Lack of specific data to show feasibility of approach**

## More Things that Reviewers Don’t Like

**Absence of new or original ideas**
**Absence of an acceptable scientific rationale**
**Insufficient evidence of experience in the essential methodology**
**Outdated methodologies**
**Questionable reasoning in approach**
**Uncritical approach**
**Poor preparation and presentation**

## WHAT IS STREAMLINING?

***WHAT IS STREAMLINING?***

## What happens after review?

- The applicant receives a score, via eRA Commons, within 2-3 days
- The applicant receives a summary statement , via eRA Commons, usually within a month
- The applicant reads CAREFULLY the summary statement
- The applicant contacts the program official for questions regarding post-meeting, eventual resubmission and funding issues.

## Where to Find Information

**OER website **_[http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/oer.htm](http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/oer.htm)_
**Funding Opportunities (NIH Guide, New Investigators Program)**
**Application forms and deadlines**
**CSR website **_[http://](http://www.csr.nih.gov/)__[www.csr.nih.gov](http://www.csr.nih.gov/)_
**Institute websites **_[http://](http://www.nida.nih.gov/)__[www.nida.nih.gov](http://www.nida.nih.gov/)_
**Program Announcements (PA), Requests for Applications (RFA)**
**Institute Organization (Divisions, Centers and Offices)**
**Research Training website **_[http://](http://www.nida.nih.gov/researchtraining/traininghome.html)__[www.nida.nih.gov/researchtraining/traininghome.html](http://www.nida.nih.gov/researchtraining/traininghome.html)_

## Keys to Success

- Know the system
- Be proactive
- Be resilient