Another Look at Applications Submitted During the Pandemic (Part 5): A Focus on Career Stage

In posts from April 2022, October 2021, June 2021,and July 2020, we looked at the distributions of gender and race of designated principal investigators (PI’s) of R01 and RPG applications submitted before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we extend on our prior analyses by presenting R01-equivalent application data on PI characteristics of Early Stage Investigators (ESIs). As before, we focus on applications received during specific calendar periods.
Tables 1 and 2 show R01-equivalant applications according to career stage. Of note, there was a marked increase in the number of applications received between September 8, 2020, and January 7, 2021, possibly a pandemic effect due to investigators spending more time outside of the physical workspace. The proportion of applications submitted by ESI PI’s has been stable.
Table 1: R01-equivalent applications by Career Stage received between May 8 and September 7 in 5 consecutive years

Year
Number
ESI (%)
NI Non-ESI (%)
Experienced (%)

2017
12539
14.6
14.7
70.8

2018
12593
14.7
15.6
69.7

2019
13153
17.1
13.6
69.2

2020
13971
16.9
13.2
69.9

2021
13739
17.3
13.8
68.9

Table 2: R01-equivalent applications by Career Stage received between September 8 and January 7 in 5 consecutive years

Year
Number
ESI (%)
NI Non-ESI (%)
Experienced (%)

2017/2018
13437
17.5
15.4
67.1

2018/2019
13578
18.2
14.4
67.4

2019/2020
13386
17.3
14.2
68.5

2020/2021
14660
16.6
14.3
69.1

2021/2022
12986
17.3
13.2
69.5
...

Source: NIH Extramural Nexus - June 28, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Mike Lauer Tags: blog Open Mike applications COVID-19 Funding data Source Type: funding