Questions and Answers Table of Contents
General
Referral and Assignment
More Application Info
General
Where can I find basic information on writing and formatting my application?
Find basic information in NIH
Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.
Do I need to be a citizen to apply
for a grant?
You do not need to be a citizen to apply for a research project grant, e.g., an R01, small
grant (R03),
or exploratory/developmental grant (R21).
If you are a non-citizen working at a U.S. institution receiving an award,
you must remain there long enough to finish your project.
If
you
do not
have a permanent
visa,
state
in
your application that your visa will allow you to remain in the U.S.
long enough for you to be productive on the project. Your institution
is responsible for ensuring that you have an appropriate visa.
Some grant types have a citizenship requirement, including small
business and training grants.
When are applications due?
See When
is my application due? in our Quick
Facts on Research Grant Applications questions and answers.
May I submit my application late?
Typically, NIH allows lateness for circumstances out of your control -- including natural disasters or personal tragedies -- as well as service on an NIH study section. See the Late Applications SOP.
May I send supplementary
or missing materials after a receipt date?
Possibly. Contact the scientific
review officer (SRO) whose name is in your eRA Commons account to see if he or she will accept the materials.
It's
up to the SRO whether to accept late information. See You May Be Able to Send in Additional Data for details.
Can I submit the same application to another organization as well
as NIH?
Yes, as long as the organization is not another Public
Health Service agency.
NIH allows you to send the same application you have submitted to NIH,
or one you are planning to submit here, to a private foundation or even
another non-PHS federal agency, such as the Department of Defense.
Even if the application is still pending, you must list it in the other
support information you send us before funding. Keep in mind that the
other organization may have a similar requirement.
Does my new investigator
status change on a pending R01 application if I receive a Notice of Award for another R01 grant?
See If I
submit an R01 application as a new investigator but
receive a Notice of Award for another
R01, does my status change? in our New
Investigator Advice questions and
answers.
Might NIH return my
application if it's not formatted properly?
Yes. You must follow formatting requirements in the funding
opportunity announcement (electronic application) or PHS 398 Grant Application (paper application) or risk having your application
returned.
This can happen if you exceed page limits, for example,
or use improper
fonts, font size, or margins. See Master the Application -- Page Limits, Plan and
Organize Effectively, and Write,
Edit, and Proof Like a Pro.
May I respond to an RFA with an
application that's pending initial peer review?
No. NIH will not accept an application in response to a request
for applications that is the same as a new, revised, or renewal
application pending initial
peer review unless you withdraw the pending application.
May I resubmit as investigator-initiated
an application not funded
under an RFA?
Yes. You must submit it as a new application, so do not
include an introduction describing changes made to your previous submission.
This also allows you to benefit
fully from the NIH policy that allows two
resubmissions. Use receipt dates for new applications -- see
the Standard Due Dates for Competing Applications.
May
I respond to an RFA if my application was not funded as investigator-initiated?
Yes. See the question above -- the same process applies.
For small grants, should I apply
under the broad NIH PAs or an Institute-specific one?
See Is it better to apply under
one of the broad NIH PAs or an Institute-specific one? in our Small
and Exploratory/Developmental Research Grants questions
and answers page.
May I resubmit using a new mechanism,
e.g., an unsuccessful R01 application as an R21?
Yes. See the two questions above, May I resubmit as investigator-initiated an application not funded under an RFA? and May I respond to an RFA if my investigator-initiated application was not funded?
Should I include a cover letter?
For a new application, usually. Read more in Should
I include a cover letter? in the Quick
Facts on Research Grant Applications questions and answers.
A cover letter is required for corrected electronic applications.
How do I sign my application?
You do not need a PI signature on applications, progress reports, or prior approval requests. Instead, your institution asks you to sign a principal investigator signature assurance for each application.
When will NIAID
accept applications with multiple PIs?
NIH is allowing multiple PIs for most electronic applications, including R01s. As other grant types switch to electronic application, you'll be able to have multiple PIs for those as well.
Some initiatives that still use paper application will also permit more than one PI, so check each announcement carefully. For more information,
go to NIH's Multiple
Principal Investigators Web site and see our Take Heed -- You Might Want to Avoid a Multiple PI Application in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.
What publications can I include in my appendix?
Find that information on If You Need an
Appendix in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.
If I have a subaward agreement, what budget information should I submit for my collaborators?
If you are applying with a modular budget, send us the name and total cost each year for consortium partners. If you are applying with a non-modular budget, submit partners' detailed budget pages for each year of support.
Where do I find information about funded NIH grants?
To find funded applications with abstracts, go to NIH's CRISP
database.
Where
do I find information about NIH success rates?
To find success rate information, go to NIH
Success Rates.
How long does it take to receive an award?
See How long does it take to receive an award? in the NIAID Funding Decisions questions and answers.
How do I submit a video or other
material that cannot be sent electronically?
See How do I submit a video or other
material that cannot be sent electronically? in the Submitting and Validating Your Electronic Application auestions and answers.
May a subcontractor subcontract another organization?
No. All subcontractors must have a direct subcontract with the awardee institution. A subcontractor to a subcontractor is not allowed.
Referral and Assignment
How does the NIH Center for Scientific
Review process my application?
See What does CSR do with
my application? in the Quick
Facts on Research Grant Applications questions and answers.
Should I request assignment to an institute
and review group?
Probably. You may improve your chances of getting an award by requesting
assignment to a study
section that will review your application and an institute
or center that will administer it.
Read more in Consider Requesting an Institute and Study Section in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal and the Request
for Primary IC Assignment SOP.
If I did not request assignment
to a review group, should I check the roster?
Yes. Make sure none of your competitors
are reviewing your application and that the people who are reviewing
it have an understanding of your research area. Contact the scientific review officer if you have concerns.
If you do not request assignment to a scientific review group, the NIH Center
for Scientific Review (CSR) will do it for you.
For more advice and information, see:
Where do I find rosters of CSR study sections?
On the NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR) Web site, go to CSR Study Section Roster Index.
Can I recommend reviewers?
No! Applicants may not suggest reviewers. Read more in Requesting a Study Section in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.
Where can I find the name
of the scientific review officer (SRO) for my grant proposal?
The name of the SRO is
in your eRA Commons account.
When will CSR notify me of my application's assignments?
You can find this information in the eRA
Commons usually within
ten days, though it can take as long as six weeks for paper applications. If you have
not
heard
by then,
call
the
NIH Referral
Office at 301/435-0715. See Applications Are Assigned to an Institute and Integrated Review Group the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.
What should I do if I don't like a CSR assignment?
If you are not happy with an assignment made by the NIH
Center for Scientific Review (CSR) to a study section or institute,
call the scientific review officer to discuss an alternative.
See Call If You Are Not Satisfied With a CSR Assignment in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal and What
if I don't like the assignments? in the Quick
Facts on Research Grant Applications questions and answers.
How long will I have to wait
for notification of review results?
See When You Can Expect to Hear Back and How long will I
have to wait for my summary statement? in the Quick
Facts on Research Grant Applications questions and answers.
My R01 application has dual assignments.
It's inside the payline of the secondary IC but not the primary. What
should I do?
We suggest you contact the program officer at the secondary IC for
guidance on the next steps.
You may also want to read more at Requesting an Institute and our Dual
Assignments SOP.
Which applications does NIAID review and
why?
NIAID oversees initial peer review of applications with Institute-specific requirements to ensure that we have the needed peer
reviewer expertise.
Our in-house review groups review contract proposals and applications for program
projects (P), cooperative
agreements (U), training
(T) and career
development (K) grants,
large program
announcements, and most applications responding to requests for applications.
The NIH Center
for Scientific Review oversees peer review of investigator-initiated applications
for all other award types.
Where do I find rosters of NIAID
review committees?
Find them on NIAID's Councils
and Committees page.
Does CSR load applications into a database
so institutes can pick ones they might want to fund?
After the NIH Center
for Scientific Review (CSR) receives
your grant application, it logs your application into a tracking
database and assigns it an application
identification number, e.g., 1R01-AI-12345-01.
Then a CSR staff
member looks over your application and assigns it to the most appropriate IC based
on NIH referral guidelines. For more information, see the next question.
May one institute send my application to another institute even after CSR
assignment?
Yes. After Center
for Scientific Review assignment,
program officers in different institutes may discuss where your
application might best fit and have the strongest chances of getting
funded. You can and should be part of this discussion.
More Application Info
How do I send in other support information?
NIH collects other support just-in-time, after your application is scheduled for funding and we ask you for this information.
All electronic Grant Application Packages have a field for attaching "Current and Pending Support" in the SF 424 Senior/Key Person component form. Ignore that field -- it's for other government agencies, not NIH. When we ask you to send your other support information, follow the sample in the Grant Application Guide.
For paper applications, follow the guidance in the PHS 398. Here's a sample other support form.
See Prepare Your Other Support Submission, Why doesn't the SF 424 always match NIH's requirements?, and the Just-in-Time questions and answers.
Which application do I use for a change of grantee institution?
For now, submit these directly to NIAID using the PHS 398. This may
change in the future.
How do I send my progress reports?
Most NIH grantees can submit progress reports electronically. Check
your Notice of Award or call your program officer for details.
Go to Send Us an Annual Progress Report in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.
How does NIH handle administrative supplements?
The same as always. Go to What
is an administrative supplement? and the Administrative Supplements to Grants and Cooperative Agreements SOP.
How do I apply for a one-year no-cost extension to my grant?
As an NIH grantee, you can extend your grant's project period one time for up to 12 months without additional funds by simply informing your grants management specialist of your plans. Find details in the No-Cost Extension SOP.
If I am reapplying because I didn't get
funded, what should I do?
See our Advice for Resubmission and Unfunded
Applicants questions and answers.
Can my application become available to the public?
See Does NIH ever make a grant application available to the public? in our Copyright and Publication for Grantees questions and answers.
Can I see a list of people registered in the eRA Commons?
There is no way to see a list of all people registered in the Commons. Your signing official can retrieve a list of registered Commons users affiliated with your institution by clicking on the "Maintain Profiles" tab.
Where can I find more questions and answers about grant applications?
Go to Applying for a Grant, Writing a Great Grant Application, and other Application questions and answers.
What if my question wasn't answered here, or I'd like to suggest a question?
Email deaweb@niaid.nih.gov with the title of this page or its URL and your question or comment. We answer questions by email and post them here. Thanks for helping us clarify and expand our knowledge base. |
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