Endocrine Insider
September 30, 2009

(See full issue)

As part of its effort to improve the peer-review process, the Center for Scientific Review (CSR) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced that it will implement a shortened and restructured application format for FY2011 grant submissions.  NIH announced the impending changes in a notice to investigators, and CSR included a story about the changes, along with other items of interest, in its September issue of Peer Review Notes.  The new application format will be required for grants submitted on or after the January 25, 2010, due date.   Some of the changes include:

Shortened Page Limits:

• For grants with a current limit of less than 25 pages, the new limit will be 6 pages.

• For grants with a current limit of 25 pages, the new limit will be 12 pages.

• For grants with a current limit of greater than 25 pages, applicants should consult the     individual Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA).

• Page limits do not include Specific Aims or Introduction (where applicable).

Research Plan:

• Background and Significance, Preliminary Studies/Progress Report, and Research Design and Methods will be replaced by a new single section entitled Research Strategy, which will be sub-divided into three parts: Significance, Innovation, and Approach.

Other changes include new requirements under the Facilities and Other Resources section and the inclusion of a Personal Statement in the applicant’s biosketch.

For detailed information on the restructured grant applications, please click here. .

September’s Peer Review Notes also reports the adoption of a new grant scoring system, pilot projects to examine other peer-review recommendations, and an approach to finding homes for “orphan” applications.

The full issue of Peer Review Notes is available here.