Update on Simplifying Review Criteria: Analysis of Comments from the Request for Information

This blog has been co-authored with Noni Byrnes, Director, Center for Scientific Review, NIH. Originally posted on the Review Matters blog. Mike Lauer, Deputy Director for Extramural Research, NIH Noni Byrnes, Ph.D., Director of NIH Center for Scientific Review As discussed in the blog, “Update on Simplifying Review Criteria: A Request for Information (RFI),” NIH issued an RFI—from December 8, 2022, through March 10, 2023—seeking feedback on its proposed plan to revise and simplify the framework for the first level of the peer review of research project grant (RPG) applications. NIH received more than 800 responses to the RFI: 780 from individuals, 30 from scientific societies, and 30 from academic institutions. The vast majority were supportive of the proposed changes, although a minority were in favor of Factor 3 (Investigator, Environment) being scored, and a smaller minority advocated for a blinded or partially blinded review process. Most of the respondents highlighted the need for strong training resources for reviewers, study sections chairs, and scientific review officers. One question that often arises is how investigator and institution will be weighted in arriving at the Overall Impact score, if they themselves are not individually scored. Since 2009, when scoring was added to the review criteria, reviewers have been free to weight these as they see fit in the Overall Impact score. This score has never been an average of criterion scores. This ...
Source: NIH Extramural Nexus - Category: Research Authors: Tags: blog Open Mike Center for Scientific Review CSR Request For Information (RFI) RPG Source Type: funding