NIH Funding Policies
NIH funding policies govern all applications and issues related to NIA funding, including those related to the well-being of individuals in clinical studies. All relevant extramural funding policies can be found in the NIH Office of Extramural Research's Grants Policy and Guidelines web site. Officials from institutions that may be first-time receivers of NIH grant support should read the NIH Welcome Wagon Letter. Materials include comprehensive descriptions of NIH Grants Policies and contact information (addresses and phone numbers) for the NIH offices responsible for managing these policies.
Frequently, NIH revises or introduces new policies. These changes are announced in the NIH Guide and added to the Office of Extramural Research's Grants Policy and Guidelines web site. Every several years, policy revisions are incorporated into the NIH Grants Policy Statement.
Major changes in NIH policy that have occurred since the prior revision of the Grants Policy Statement (12/2003) include:
Changes in the NIH Application Submission Process
NIH has participated in a government-wide initiative to submit applications to a single federal site and use a single federal form (the SF 424, Research and Related (R&R)). Also, NIH has switched application submission from paper to an electronic, web-based format for most of the mechanisms. To check the transition dates of remaining mechanisms that are planned for electronic submission click here (PDF, 78K).
A federal-wide site explains the initiative on submitting grant applications to a central site and with a single form and provides instructions on how to register through that site.
The NIH site that allows access to current competing and noncompeting application forms also provides access to recent Notices announcing changes in how, what, or where applicants should submit. This site is an important one to check regularly if you either are an investigator intending to submit an application or a university research administrator who assists investigators with their applications.
A second NIH site explains how to submit an application electronically and the timetable for transitioning to electronic submission of applications.
NIH has also made information about the current status of submitted applications available to investigators electronically through the NIH Commons. If you are not yet registered for the Commons and intend to submit an application, work within your institution to make sure it is registered and that you have access to this site.
Back to Funding Policies
Page last updated Feb 19, 2009