NOTICE from NIH: As most investigators will know, NIH Progress Reports, both the F-RPPR and I-RPPR, include a section for Project Outcomes, Section I – Outcomes. It is NIH’s intent that the information provided in the Project Outcomes section will be made publicly available. Therefore, investigators should avoid including overly scientific language or technical terminology when drafting the Outcomes. Rather, the information in the Project Outcomes section should be easily understood by the general public. Grantees will be required to submit Revised Project Outcomes through the FRAM and IRAM if the Project Outcomes section is written in language that only biomedical experts may understand or if proprietary or personally-identified information has been shared.
NIH has issued a notice (NOT-OD-18-103) informing Grantees that the Project Outcomes Section of all Interim and Final RPPRs submitted on or after October 1, 2017 will be made available via the NIH RePORTER after review by NIH staff.
At the end of each competitive segment, a concise summary of the cumulative outcomes and findings of a project will be made public through the NIH RePORTER. If a Project Outcome section shares proprietary or Personally Identifiable Information (PII), NIH will require the Grantee to revise the Project Outcomes using the Additional Material functionality for the Final Progress Report (FRAM) or Interim Progress Report (IRAM).
The Revised Project Outcomes can ONLY be submitted by typing the revised information into the Project Outcomes section of the Additional Material web form and will not be accepted if the information is uploaded as an attachment. NIH does not want general comments or other types of communication included in this section of the web form.
Your OSP Analyst will be glad to assist you with any questions regarding this new procedure.
NIH has also provided the guidance on the hyperlinks below for your reference:
- For the latest Guide Notice on Project Outcomes, please see NOT-OD-18-103.
- For an example of an acceptable Project Outcomes description, please see the Summary of R01HL066004.
- For more information on Interim and Final RPPR, please refer to NOT-OD-17-085 and NOT-OD-17-022.
— Tiffani Patterson, OSP