Endocrine Insider
July 10, 2008

After a year-long examination of peer review at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a special working group of the Advisory Committee to the NIH Director has established priorities for implementation of programs to improve the process. The Society was actively engaged in the dialogue between NIH and the scientific community that identified problems and generated ideas for improvement. From this information, the working group gleaned the overarching priorities that are listed below with highlighted approaches to address them.

Priority 1—Engage the Best Reviewers

• Increase flexibility of service
• Formally acknowledge reviewer efforts
• Further compensate time and effort
• Enhance and standardize training 

Priority 2—Improve Quality and Transparency of Reviews

• Shorten and redesign applications to highlight impact and to allow alignment of the application, review, and summary statement with five explicit review criteria
• Modify the rating system

Priority 3—Ensure Balanced and Fair Reviews across Scientific Fields and Career Stages

• Support a minimum number of early stage investigators and investigators new to NIH, and emphasize retrospective accomplishments of experienced investigators
• Encourage and expand the Transformative Research Pathway
• Create a new investigator-initiated Transformative R01 Award program funded within the NIH Roadmap with an intended commitment of a minimum of $250 million over five years
• Continue the commitment of -- and possibly expand the use of -- the Pioneer, EUREKA, and New Innovator Awards. NIH will invest at least $750 million in these three programs over the next five years.
• Reduce the burden of multiple rounds of resubmission for the same application, especially for highly meritorious applications 

Priority 4—Develop a Permanent Process for Continuous Review of Peer Review

NIH is currently developing detailed implementation plans, a process that is predicted to take 12-18 months. An ad hoc Peer Review Task Force, to be chaired by the NIH deputy director, will develop detailed plans and oversee initial implementation of programs. Additionally, a new entity will be formed within the Division of Program Coordination, Planning and Strategic Initiatives to oversee continuous inspection of peer review.

More information on NIH's efforts to enhance peer review may be obtained here:

http://enhancing-peer-review.nih.gov