NIAID Funding Decisions

Questions and Answers Table of Contents

How does NIAID make funding decisions?

The most important factor determining whether you get a grant is scientific quality, as judged by peer reviewers. NIAID awards most investigator-initiated applications in strict order by percentile, for R01s, or priority score, for other grant types, until we reach the cutoff point called the payline.

For requests for applications and program announcement with set-aside funds, we fund applications in priority score order until we use up funds set aside for the initiative. Read more in How Funding Is Decided: How NIAID Determines Which Applications to Fund.

What are paylines, and why does NIAID use them?

Paylines are percentile- or priority score-based funding cutoff points set around the beginning of a fiscal year for investigator-initiated applications. By using paylines, NIAID emphasizes scientific merit based on the judgment of the reviewers.

How does NIAID determine paylines?

In setting paylines, NIAID calculates the projected number of grant applications recommended for funding versus the amount of funds it has to spend for each grant mechanism.

For more information on how NIAID sets paylines, see How Funding Is Decided: How NIAID Determines Which Applications to Fund and subsequent pages in our All About Grants tutorials. To view current paylines, go to Paylines and Budget Information.

Do all grant types have the same payline?

No. Each type has its own payline, although the percentile-based R01 payline is often referred to as "the payline." See Paylines Are a Conservative Funding Cut Point and Paylines and Budget Information.

Does NIAID ever skip grants within a payline?

No. We fund all applications within a payline unless they have concerns such as human subjects or animal use -- those are funded when the concerns are resolved.

If my application is not within the payline, may it still get funded?

Yes. Talk to your program officer to see if your application will be raised for selective pay or a High Priority, Short Term Project Award (R56-Bridge).

Applications are kept active until the end of the year when we may have more funds to award.

The eRA Commons keeps both versions of your application if you resubmit, so we can fund the original application if the resubmission receives a worse score. Ask your program officer whether you should revise and resubmit right away.

Read If Your Application Is Unscored; Outcomes of Second-Level Review; and Know What a Summary Statement Means.

If my R01 application is assigned to two institutes and scores within the payline of the secondary IC but not the primary, what should I do?

See My R01 application has dual assignments. It's inside the payline of the secondary IC but not the primary. What should I do? on our General Application Information questions and answers page.

Do all institutes openly publish their paylines?

No, but NIAID does -- go to Paylines and Budget Information.

Why does NIH use percentiles?

NIH uses percentiling to make R01 scoring equivalent across study sections and to counteract "priority score creep," the tendency of peer reviewers to assign increasingly better scores. Percentiles rank applications relative to others scored by the same CSR study section during one year, or three review cycles.

Is the denominator for calculating percentile all applications reviewed by the study section or all scored applications?

NIH has always included the unscored applications when calculating percentiles by treating them as if they had received a priority score of 501.

Since the number of unscored application varies by study section, including them affects the percentile distribution and makes percentiling fair across study sections. For more information, see How Percentiles Are Determined.

For R01s, should I pay closer attention to the percentile or the priority score?

Since priority scores are often clustered at a single peer review meeting, percentiles can help indicate the spread of applications for a study section and can be more important in determining funding. Read more in Percentiles Indicate Relative Rank.

What is selective pay, and how does it work?

Selective pay enables NIAID to fund a small number of programmatically important R01 grant applications with percentiles beyond the payline.Program officers nominate selective pay applications to the Institute's main advisory Council for recommendation; investigators cannot apply for it.

In choosing applications, we look at relevance to our mission, scientific merit, and whether the investigator is new. Go to NIAID May Approve Special Funding, Advisory Council SOP, Selective Pay SOP, and NIAID Funding Policy and Process SOP.

What is an R56-Bridge award?

High-Priority, Short-Term Project Awards (R56-Bridge) can provide interim support up to study section-recommended levels if your R01 application missed being funded. These funds can help keep your research going while you revise your application.

You don't apply but must be nominated by NIAID program staff. In choosing applications, we look at relevance to our mission, scientific merit, and whether the investigator is new. For more information, see the NIAID R56-Bridge Award SOP.

Does NIAID target applications from new investigators that fall outside the payline?

Yes. As we mentioned, NIAID has two primary ways to fund applications from investigators who are new whose percentiles missed the payline: selective pay and the R56-Bridge award. For more information, see the Selective Pay SOP, NIAID R56-Bridge Award SOP, and NIAID May Approve Special Funding.

Why does NIAID make programmatic or administrative reductions to application budgets some fiscal years?

When our annual appropriation is not sufficient to allow us to fund applications at Council-recommended levels, we may have to reduce budgets after examining each PI's needs. For more information on administrative reductions for the current fiscal year, see our financial management plan on Paylines and Budget.

Does Council perform another scientific peer review of applications?

No. Read more at What does Council look for during second-level review? on our NIAID Advisory Council questions and answers page.

How does funding differ at the end of the year?

Throughout the year, NIAID uses the payline as a cutoff to fund applications. However, at the end of the year, NIAID uses the money left in the budget to fund applications in the gray zone. For more information, see Paylines Are a Conservative Funding Cut Point.

Why may NIAID decide to defer my application's funding until later in the fiscal year?

NIAID defers some applications until later in a fiscal year because if we pay too many applications at the beginning of a fiscal year, we could end the year with too little money to fund better applications. Find out more in Outcomes of Second-Level Review.

If my application is not recommended for further consid eration, can it ever get funded?

Most certainly! You are allowed to revise and resubmit your application once. See Part 11b. Not Funded, Reapply in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.

Where do I find information about NIH success rates?

Read Where do I find information about NIH success rates? in the questions and answers for General Application Information.

How long does it take to receive an award?

For most R01 applications, you will receive your Notice of Award within six to eight weeks of the Council meeting or earlier if it underwent expedited second-level review. Other grant types may take longer. To see more dates, go to NIAID R01 Application to Award Timeline.

What should I do during a lean budget year?

Here are a few tips to help sustain you in a lean budget year.

Modest expectations. One approach is to scale back your plans. When applying to renew your grant, don't increase your budget by more than 20 percent since you're not likely to get a larger budget.

If this strategy can meet your needs, you won't waste time planning a big expansion but will design your research for funding close to the previous level.

Keep the ball moving. With smaller budgets, you should try even harder to submit your renewal in plenty of time to send in a revision if you need to. Lower paylines will translate into more resubmissions for many investigators.

Stay real. Although we understand that PIs expect to be funded at the study section-approved levels, this is not always possible. Funding is always dependent on budget constraints.

We know that this year will be especially trying, and many people will be disappointed and angry. Unfortunately, budget cycles are inevitable. During both lean and fat years, we have to live within our means, as difficult as this may be right now.

Will my annual budget change over the course of my award?

NIAID may make yearly adjustments to noncompeting awards. It may build a small percentage into future year commitments to reflect inflation. Or NIAID may lower the committed funding level using an average programmatic reduction when budgets are tight. We announce the adjustment each year in the Financial Management Plan on Paylines and Budget.

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.