Saving a Cycle and Speeding Research: Because CSR’s current merit review cycles overlap, researchers who get poor or marginal scores cannot revise and resubmit their applications for the following review round. They must sit out a cycle to resubmit. Committee members said the lengthy process especially handicaps new investigators — researchers for whom grants may make or break a career. In the pilot program, however, researchers will learn of any deficiencies much earlier — and will be given an extended deadline to reapply and get in on the next cycle of review. (Of course, there is no guarantee resubmissions will succeed. Only about half of all applications ever get NIH funding.)

Evaluating the Pilot: CSR will assess the views of the applicants in the pilot to see if they felt they benefited from the shortened review cycle. CSR will also assess the views of the involved reviewers as well as appropriate CSR and NIH staff members.

Expanding the Pilot: NIH officials said that, if the piloted techniques prove useful, they could be used in the near future to speed the reviews of all new investigator applications for R01 grants. New electronic and management methods and new electronic research applications may enable CSR to use shortened cycles in reviewing all R01 applications and other applications as well. NIH has announced it will begin phasing out paper applications and appendices, which sometimes run hundreds of pages, on Dec. 1, 2005. The switch-over for R01 applications will be October 1, 2006. (http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt)

For additional information, contact the NIH Center for Scientific Review communications office, 301-435-1111.