Application Procedures
Prior to Applying
- Choose a funding mechanism and a particular funding opportunity, solicited or unsolicited.
- Become familiar with NIH application policies.
- Review application due dates, which are usually three times per year. Funding decisions take at least nine months.
Application Process for Unsolicited Applications
- Applicant creates a Grants.gov account and an ERA Commons account.
- Applicant follows instructions to have institution submit a grant application.
- Applications are received by the Center for Scientific Review (CSR), which assigns each application to a study section (with a corresponding Scientific Review Administrator) and an Institute or Center (to a particular Program Director).
- Statistical methodology applications will be assigned to SRAB, other biostatistical groups at NCI, or other institutes.
- The study section reviews the application for scientific merit and releases a summary statement of its critiques.
- After a preliminary review, about half of the applications reviewed by a study section are discussed and given an overall impact score.
- Discussed applications undergo a second round of review at an Institute-specific advisory council, where funding recommendations are made.
Archived Presentations on Funding Opportunities
Peer Review Process for NIH Grant Applications
Former Scientific Review Administrator Dr. Ann Hardy compiled a presentation containing a particularly helpful chart on human subject coding (slide #26). This presentation is up-to-date, with the exception that the scoring has changed slightly: the scale of scores has changed from 1.0-5.0 to 1-9, and all applications, whether discussed or not, get individual criteria scores.
Peer Review Process for NIH Grant Applications (PDF - 1.58 MB)
How to Win an NIH Grant - A Reviewer’s Perspective
Former study section member Dr. Louise Ryan gave a presentation describing what study sections look for in an application.
How to Win an NIH Grant - A Reviewer’s Perspective (PDF - 134 KB)
