NIH Director Announces Enhancements to Peer
Review
NIH Will Commit $1 Billion over Next Five Years to Investigator-Initiated
High Risk, High Impact Transformative Research
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Elias A. Zerhouni,
M.D., announced today at the 96th Meeting of the Advisory
Committee to the Director (ACD) critical changes to enhance and
improve the NIH peer review system. This marks the end of a year-long
effort to determine ways to further enrich the process. An important
component of the new plan is an increased commitment to investigator-initiated
high-risk, high-impact research to prevent a slowdown of transformative
research, despite difficult budgetary times.
"The scientific community became truly engaged in this comprehensive
effort to figure out how to make peer review work better for both
the reviewers and the applicants," Zerhouni said. "The
results of this collective effort are concrete solutions that will
maximize flexibility, remove any unnecessary burden, stimulate
new innovation, and promote transformative research."
There was a remarkable response to the director's call-to-action
by both the internal and external NIH communities. The initiatives
presented to the ACD by Lawrence Tabak, D.D.S., Ph.D., Director
of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR)
and co-chair of the two peer review working groups, reflect NIH's
response to thousands of comments, opinions, and criticisms received
throughout the year. Taken together, these proposals bring to fruition
the original charge, "to fund the best science, by the best
scientists, with the least administrative burden."
Collaborative teams of participants worked to tackle challenges
of the system and discover solutions. A comprehensive framework
was created and implementation will be carried out over the next
18 months.
The Implementation Plan Report consists of four main priorities
and highlights include:
- Priority 1 — Engage the Best Reviewers: Increase flexibility
of service, formally acknowledge reviewer efforts, further compensate
time and effort, and enhance and standardize training
- Priority 2 — Improve Quality and Transparency of Reviews:
Shorten and redesign applications to highlight impact and to
allow alignment of the application, review and summary statement
with five explicit review criteria, and modify the rating system
- Priority 3 — Ensure Balanced and Fair Reviews Across
Scientific Fields and Career Stages
- Support a minimum number of early stage investigators and
investigators new to NIH, and emphasize retrospective accomplishments
of experienced investigators
- Encourage and expand the Transformative Research Pathway
- Create a new investigator-initiated Transformative R01 Award
program funded within the NIH Roadmap with an intended commitment
of a minimum of $250 million over five years
- Continue the commitment of — and possibly expand the
use of — the Pioneer, EUREKA, and New Innovator Awards. NIH
will invest at least $750 million in these three programs over
the next 5 years.
- Reduce the burden of multiple rounds of resubmission for
the same application, especially for highly meritorious applications
- Priority 4 — Develop a Permanent Process for Continuous
Review of Peer Review
"As we contemplated possible changes, we were guided by several
fundamental principles. First, while improving the system, do no
harm. That is, ensure that any changes to the peer review system
bring significant value and outweigh costs," said Zerhouni. "Second,
continue to maximize the freedom of scientists to pursue high-risk,
high-impact research. Moreover, we want to cultivate a sense that
we continuously re-evaluate the peer review system to ensure that
it is the best that it can be."
For more information about enhancing peer review at NIH and to
learn about the implementation plan, please visit http://enhancing-peer-review.nih.gov.
The ACD advises the NIH Director on policy matters important to
the NIH mission of conducting and supporting biomedical and behavioral
research, research training, and translating research results for
the public. Additional information is available at http://www.nih.gov/about/director/acd/index.htm.
The Office of the Director, the central office at NIH, is responsible
for setting policy for NIH, which includes 27 Institutes and Centers.
This involves planning, managing, and coordinating the programs
and activities of all NIH components. The Office of the Director
also includes program offices which are responsible for stimulating
specific areas of research throughout NIH. Additional information
is available at http://www.nih.gov/icd/od/.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's
Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and
Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting
and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research,
and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both
common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and
its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
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