Beginning with the October 1996 receipt date, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) stopped accepting A3 or higher amendments to an application (see NIH Guide Notices of June 14, 1996 and June 27, 1997). Effective with the NIH Guide Notice of May 7, 2003, the restriction of amendments to a two year window was removed. There is no longer any time limit on the acceptance of an A1 or an A2 amendment of a competing application.

This policy is based on NIH data that indicate that amended applications constitute more than one third of all research project grant applications. The data also indicate that investigators who receive initial funding based on an amended application, whether for a new submission (Type 1) or a competing renewal (Type 2), experience a lower success rate in subsequent efforts to secure funding for a competing renewal application, and the probability of subsequent success in the competing renewal process diminishes with the number of amendments. We believe that after these three unsuccessful attempts at funding, it is preferable for all applicants to take a fresh start at their research plans. Therefore, the NIH has adopted a policy that limits the number of amendments to two. This limit allows principal investigators sufficient time to generate preliminary data if it is required by the reviewers, and to consider new findings in the area of research.

Inquiries

Questions or comments concerning this policy may be directed to the Director, Office of Extramural Research at DDER@NIH.GOV .