By: Erica Pitre, Office of Research Development
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has taken steps to simplify its grant review process for most research project grants for applications with due dates of January 25, 2025 or later. Upcoming changes have been undertaken in order to address the complexity of the peer review process and the potential for reputational bias to affect peer review outcomes.
The simplified review framework will focus peer review on the key questions needed to assess the scientific and technical merit of proposed research projects – should and can the proposed research project be conducted?
Simplified peer review will apply to the following activity codes: 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, (including the following phased awards: R21/R33, UH2/UH3, UG3/UH3, R61/R33).
The changes will help reviewers focus on the potential for proposed research to advance scientific knowledge and improve human health.
Previously, five criteria were individually scored using a common scale. The simplified review framework reorganizes these criteria into three factors.
- Two of these factors – importance of research and rigor and feasibility – are scored using a common scale.
- A third factor, expertise and resources, is evaluated for sufficiency only and not given a numeric score.
Additionally, these changes reduce administrative duties of peer reviewers, shifting them to NIH staff instead, thereby allowing reviewers to focus on the science.
Details on the NIH Simplified Review Framework can be found here.