NIAID Glossary of Funding and Policy Terms and Acronyms: N-Q

Three subcommittees of the National Advisory Allergy and Infectious Diseases Council, which conduct second-level review and advise the NIAID's extramural program divisions -- DAIDS, DMID, and DAIT -- to which they correspond.

For more information, go to NIAID's Advisory Council.

NIH institute that conducts and supports research to understand, treat, and prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases. For more information, go to NIAID.

Federal government agency that conducts and supports biomedical and behavioral research to create fundamental knowledge of living systems and reduce the burden of illness and disability.

For more information, go to NIH and NIAID's NIH Organization and Process questions and answers.

Programs for training grants and fellowships.

For more information, go to these resources:

• NIH's Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA)
• NIAID's Training and Career portal
• NIAID's Advice on Research Training and Career Awards

Body that advises federal agencies on ways to minimize the possibility that biological research knowledge and technologies will be used to threaten public health or national security.

For more information, go to National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity and NIAID's Biodefense and Biosecurity.

Human subjects term indicating a person having origins in the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.

NIH policy requires this minority group to be included in clinical research barring a compelling rationale not to do so. See Targeted/Planned Enrollment Table and Inclusion Enrollment Report Table.

Five-character code that identifies foreign organizations conducting business with the U.S. federal government. Foreign organizations must obtain an NCAGE before registering in the Central Contractor Registration database.

For more information, go to DOD's Commercial and Government Entity and the Form.

Contracting method using proposals and discussions. A contract awarded without using sealed bidding procedures is a negotiated contract.

For more information, go to these resources:

• FAR 15.101
• NIAID's Contracts portal
• NIAID's Negotiation, Source Selection, and Award SOPs

Grant application that NIH was not previously funded; also called a type 1. See renewal and noncompeting. Also called Type 1.

For more information, go to NIAID's What Qualifies as a New Application? in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.

Application by a drug sponsor to FDA to approve a new pharmaceutical for sale and marketing in the U.S. under regulations 21 CFR 314, based on data from animal studies and clinical trials. See investigational new drug application.

For more information, go to 21 CFR 314.

Scientist who has never successfully competed as a principal investigator on many types of NIH grants, including an R01. Investigators who are appointed as PI for an existing grant still qualify as new.

See early-stage investigator.

For more information, go to these resources:

• NIH's New and Early Stage Investigator Policies.
• NIAID's Are You "New"? in the New Investigator Guide to NIH Funding
• NIAID's New Investigator Guide to NIH Funding on Early-Stage and New Investigators portal

SBIR award NIAID uses to fund projects that have progressed significantly along the pathway to FDA approval (or foreign equivalent).

For more information, go to these resources:

• Small Business Act
• NIH Small Business Funding Opportunities
• NIAID's Small Business Awards portal

STTR award NIAID uses to fund projects that have progressed significantly along the pathway to FDA approval (or foreign equivalent).

For more information, go to these resources:

• Small Business Act
• NIH Small Business Funding Opportunities
• NIAID's Small Business Awards portal

Pathogen on the list of NIAID Category A, B, and C Priority Pathogens, an expansion of the legislated select agent and overlap select agent lists 42 CFR 73, 73.4 and 73.5. NIAID uses its list to fund high-priority biodefense applications.

For more information, go to these resources:

• 42 CFR 73
• NIAID Category A, B, and C Priority Pathogens
• NIAID's Select Agent Awards SOP

Plan that sets general funding policies for NIH and forms the basis of NIAID's financial management plan. For more information, go to NIAID's Financial Management Plan SOP.

Weekly NIH publication of policy notice and funding opportunities: program announcements, requests for applications, and some requests for proposals.

For more information, go to these resources:

• NIAID's Opportunities and Announcements
• NIAID's Top Policy Changes
• NIAID's NIH Policy Announcements SOP

Announcement published in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts informing the extramural research community of policy changes.

For more information, go to NIH Guide and NIAID's NIH Policy Announcements SOP.

Extension of a grant's project period without additional funds. For grants issued under expanded authorities, a principal investigator does not need approval from NIAID to extend a project period one time for up to twelve months.

For more information, go to NIAID's No-Cost Extension SOP and Grant Award and Management portal.

Ongoing grant whose award is contingent on a grantee's submitting a PHS 2590 progress report to NIAID as the condition of further support.

Also called Type 5; see application type and streamlined noncompeting award process.

For more information, go to NIAID's Send Us an Annual Progress Report in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.

Movement of budget authority from one NIH account to another in a way that does not involve an outlay of government funds. 

Judgment by a scientific review group that a grant application lacks significant and substantial scientific or technical merit or that involves serious hazards or unethical procedures. Such applications do not warrant a review and are not eligible for funding. See also unscored and recommended.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• What Happens If Reviewers Have Concerns? in the How to Write a Human Subjects Grant Application
• If Your Application Is Unscored and Part 11b. Not Funded, Reapply in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal
• NIAID Funding Decisions questions and answers

Legally binding document that notifies a grantee and others that a grant has been funded. It contains or references all terms and conditions of award and documents the obligation of federal funds.

For more information, go to these resources:

• NIAID's Read Your Notice of Award, Know Your Terms in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal
• NIH Grants Policy Statement

See Notice of Award.

NIAID organization in the Division of Extramural Activities that oversees contracts. For more information, go to NIAID's Contracts portal.

NIH office that oversees compliance with the PHS Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.

For more information, go to these resources:

• PHS Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals
• OLAW
• PHS Policy Tutorial
• NIAID's Animals in Research portal

Executive Branch office that assists the U.S. president in preparing the federal budget, evaluating agency programs and policies, and setting funding priorities. In setting policy, OMB issues government-wide policy directives, called circulars, that apply to grants.

For more information, go to OMB's Grants Management Circulars.

HHS office that promotes integrity in biomedical and behavioral research supported by the Public Health Service by monitoring institutional investigations of research misconduct and facilitating the responsible conduct of research.

For more information, go to ORI and NIAID's Research Misconduct Cases SOP.

NIAID office that manages NIAID's portfolio of patents and inventions and facilitates collaborations between NIAID intramural researchers and external organizations through CRADAs and other agreements. See technology transfer.

For more information, go to NIAID's Office of Technology Development.

NIH office that manages the NIH invention portfolio and oversees NIH technology transfer. See technology transfer. For more information, go to OTT.

Use of an unspent portion of a current year's budget to fund a future budget period.

Requirement that agencies conduct peer review of certain publications before publishing influential scientific information that may affect important public policies or private sector decisions.

For more information, go to OMB Bulletin and Final Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review in the Federal Register.

Earliest date a grant application may be submitted to Grants.gov. It is different from the posted date and release date. Even though a funding opportunity announcement is posted, it may not be open for applications.

NIAID Office of Special Populations and Research Training, DEA.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• Office of Special Populations and Research Training
• Office of Special Populations and Research Training Contacts

Budget category that includes K series career awards, R13 conference grants, R18 research demonstration and dissemination projects, R24 resource-related research projects, and U24 cooperative agreements. Compare with research project grant.

For more on these activity codes, go to NIAID's Other Grant Types portal.

All financial resources -- federal, non-federal, commercial, or institutional -- that support a principal investigator's research, including research grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts, but not including training-type awards, prizes, and gifts.

Applicants must submit other support information for all key personnel to NIH just-in-time following the sample in the Grant Application Guide. Applicants should not submit current and pending support with the application using the attachment on the Research and Related Senior/Key Person Profile form.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• Prepare Your Other Support Submission in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal
• Just-in-Time SOP
• Just-in-Time questions and answers

Amount of money the government spends for a federally funded program in a year. Outlays are used as a measurement of government spending.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• NIAID Funding Opportunity Planning and the Budget Cycle
• in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal

Human subjects term indicating efforts to recruit and retain populations of interest (racial and ethnic categories and subpopulations, and women) into clinical research studies.

For more information, go to NIAID Human Subjects Resources portal.

Average of individual ratings of overall scientific and technical merit given by all reviewers of an initial peer review scientific review group; newer nomenclature for priority score.

It quantifies the reviewers' assessment of the project's ability to exert a sustained, powerful influence on its field, considering the five core initial peer review criteria and any additional ones.

Each reviewer scores in whole numbers: 1 is best, 9 worst. Reviewer scores are then averaged and rounded mathematically to one decimal place. Scores appear on a summary statement from 10 to 90. See criteria score and percentile.

For more information, go to NIAID's Initial Peer Review Assesses Scientific Merit in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.

Other support that duplicates research or budgetary items already funded by an NIH grant. Overlap also occurs when any project-supported personnel has time commitments exceeding 12 person months.

Also see scientific overlap, budgetary overlap, and commitment overlap.

For more information, go to NIAID's Prepare Your Other Support Submission in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.

Biological agents and toxins listed in 42 CFR 73 section 73.4, which have the potential to pose a severe threat to public health and safety, animal health, or animal products.

Overlap select agent and toxins are subject to regulation by both CDC and USDA. Investigators who possess or use select agents must register with and get approval from either the CDC Select Agent Program or USDA APHIS Agricultural Select Agent Program, depending on the agent.

For more information, go to these resources:

• 42 CFR 73
• CDC Select Agent Program
• USDA APHIS Agricultural Select Agent Program
• Select Agent and Toxin List
• NIAID Category A, B & C Priority Pathogens
• NIAID's Biodefense and Biosecurity portal
• NIAID's Select Agent Awards SOP

PAR

See program announcement identifying location of peer review.

See parent program announcement.

NIH-wide funding opportunity announcement that enables applicants to submit an electronic investigator-initiated grant application for a one activity code, e.g., Research Project Grant (Parent R01).

For any parent program announcement, some institutes may not participate or may not accept applications in all topics. Parent PAs are not initiatives, which to stimulate research in a scientific topic. Compare with institute-specific initiative.

For more information, go to these resources:

• NIH's Research Project Grant (Parent R01)
• NIH's Parent Announcements for Unsolicited or Investigator-Initiated Applications.
• NIAID's How Funding Opportunities Work in the New Investigator Guide to NIH Funding
• NIAID's Funding Opportunity Announcements questions and answers

Document issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office containing a description, specification, and claims that describe the subject matter in detail and giving its owner a right to exclude others from making, using, or selling it.

Only an inventor can obtain a patent; however, employers often require employees to hand over patent rights.

Commercial use license for patented and patent-pending technologies; PLAs are either nonexclusive or exclusive and define royalties to be paid.

For more information, go to NIH Office of Technology Transfer and NIAID's Copyright and Publication for Grantees questions and answers.

Award for new investigators to help them begin independent research early in their career.

For more information, go to NIAID's Pathway to Independence Awards (K99/R00) SOP.

Funding cutoff point for grant applications set each fiscal year by balancing projected grant numbers, grant budgets, and monies in the Institute's budget. NIAID sets paylines conservatively at the start of the fiscal year and pays additional grants beyond the payline at the end of the fiscal year.

NIAID funds most applications in percentile (for R01s only) or overall impact/priority score order (for other grants). See also selective pay and program balance.

For more information, go to NIAID's Paylines and Funding portal and these resources in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal:

• Percentiles Indicate Relative Rank, How Percentiles Are Determined
• Paylines Are a Conservative Funding Cut Point
• How NIAID Determines Which Applications to Fund

System for evaluating research grant applications and contract proposals using non-NIH reviewers who are professional peers of a principal investigator. NIH's peer review system comprises both initial peer review and second-level review.

See also dual peer review, scientific review group, study section, integrated review group, special emphasis panel, scientific review officer, human subjects codes, and animals in research codes.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• Initial Peer Review Assesses Scientific Merit in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal
• Peer Review SOPs
• Peer Review of Applications questions and answers
• Peer Review portal

Scientist who reviews grant applications or contract proposals for NIH, including the scientific review group chair, who leads the discussions.

See also primary peer reviewer, secondary peer reviewer, initial peer review, and scientific review officer.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• NIAID's Peer Review Meetings -- CSR questions and answers
• Who Peer Reviews Your Application? in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal
• Peer Review portal

Ranking used by NIH institutes to set R01 paylines and make funding decisions. A percentile shows the relative position of each application's overall impact/priority score among all scores assigned by a scientific review group at its last three meetings. The range is from 1 to 99 in whole numbers; lower numbers represent better scores.

For more information, go to NIAID's Paylines and Funding portal and these resources in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal:

• Percentiles Indicate Relative Rank, How Percentiles Are Determined
• Score Clustering Distorts Percentiles
• Paylines Are a Conservative Funding Cut Point
• How NIAID Determines Which Applications to Fund

Time interval required to complete work defined in a statement of work. A period of performance can be revised only through an agreement between a contractor and a contracting officer, who must issue a formal modification to a contract.

For more information, go to NIAID's Contracts portal.

Agreement of parent or guardian to the participation of their child or ward in research.

For more information, go to these resources:

• 45 CFR 46.402
• 45 CFR 46
• NIAID's Contracts portal

Measurement of a person's effort in academic, summer, or calendar months a year. Use person months on NIH applications and other forms instead of percent effort.

For more information, go to these resources:

• NIH's Frequently Asked Questions Regarding the Usage of Person Months
• NIAID's Person Months Calculation Example

Sensitive information that could distinguish a person's identity. Examples include names, social security numbers, medical information, pictures, and financial records.

Different from individually identifiable information in human subjects research. For more information, go to NIAID's Data Security SOP.

NIAID plan outlining major milestones for developing and publishing initiatives and reviewing the resulting grant applications and contract proposals.

For more information, go to NIAID's Phasing of Initiatives SOP.

PHS noncompeting grant progress report. A grantee submits a PHS 2590 annually to NIH to report progress and continue funding. NIH has a streamlined noncompeting award process (SNAP); Notices of Award state whether a grant is SNAP. See also eSNAP.

For more information, go to these resources:

• PHS 2590 Non-Competing Grant Progress Report
• NIAID's eSNAP (Electronic Streamlined Noncompeting Award Process) SOP.

PHS forms and instructions for submitting a paper competing application for a grant or cooperative agreement. For electronic applications, name used for some agency-specific forms in the Grant Application Package.

For more information, go to PHS 398 and NIAID's Grant Application, Paper SOP.

Form for modular budgets in the Grant Application Package for electronic applications.

Depending on the funding opportunity announcement, level of support (see modular budget), and use of a subaward, investigators use one of the following components of the Grant Application Package:

• Research and Related Budget component form
• PHS 398 Modular Budget, Periods 1 and 2
• R&R Subaward Budget Attachments

Also see Research and Related Budget.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• Strategy for Planning a Budget in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal
• Create Your Budget and Modular Grants SOP

Form in the Grant Application Package for electronic applications used to create the research plan. For more information, go to NIAID's Part 5. Research Plan in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.

PI applicant

See applicant.

Implanted embryo in early stages of development before formation of identifiable tissues and organs.

Costs (e.g., salaries, animal purchases, other start-up costs) that principal investigators incur when they anticipate receiving a Notice of Award. Prior approval is required in some cases.

Incurring preaward costs does not obligate NIAID to issue a Notice of Award or increase the amount of an approved budget.

For more information, go to these resources:

• NIAID's Prior Approvals for Post-Award Grant Actions SOP
• NIH's Terms and Conditions of NIH Grant Awards in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.

Section of an NIH grant application's Research Plan.

• Preliminary Studies -- for a new application, section describing the principal investigator’s relevant preliminary studies to establish the competence of the investigator to accomplish goals of the project.
• Progress Report -- for a renewal NIH grant application, section summarizing the previous application’s Specific Aims, any changes to the specific aims as a result of budget reductions, and importance of results.

For more information, go to Preliminary Studies/Progress Report in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.

Analysis performed by a contracting officer to determine whether an offeror's proposed costs are fair and reasonable.

For more information, go to FAR 15.404 and NIAID's Contracts portal.

Annual budget request submitted to Congress by the U.S. president. NIAID submits a budget request as part of the NIH budget request, which is modified by the Office of Management and Budget.

For more information, go to these resources:

• OMB
• NIAID Funding Opportunity Planning and the Budget Cycle
• NIAID's Budgets and Planning questions and answers

Routing of an NIH grant application by the Center for Scientific Review to an institute or center, which decides whether to fund it. An institute or center may request to change an assignment if the application is more suited to another IC. Also see secondary assignment and receipt, referral, and assignment of applications.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal:

• Requesting an Institute
• Applications Are Assigned to an Institute and Integrated Review Group
• Call If You Are Not Satisfied With a CSR Assignment

Peer reviewer who reads a grant application thoroughly, writes a critique of it before an initial peer review meeting, and then presents it to the scientific review group for discussion. Also see secondary peer reviewer.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• Part 4. Target Your Audience, Who Peer Reviews Your Application?
• Peer Review Meetings -- CSR questions and answers
• Peer Review portal

Qualified person or persons designated by an applicant institution to direct a research project or program supported by NIH and who usually writes the grant application.

PIs oversee scientific and technical aspects of a grant and the day-to-day management of the research. Grants.gov term is project director/principal investigator. Also see multiple PI.

For more information, go to NIAID's Qualifying for a Grant in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.

Document that replaces a principal investigator's signature on NIH's electronic documents. PIs file the assurance with a grantee institution for each grant application, progress report, or prior approval request.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• Noncompeting Progress Reports and Program Officer Approval SOP
• SF 424 (Cover Page)
• You Will Send Some Materials Just-in-Time in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal

See new investigator.

Process FDA uses to reduce the time needed to review a new drug application that either offers major advances in treatment or provides a treatment where no adequate therapy exists. FDA conducts priority review for most drugs with a fast track designation.

Priority review, along with fast track and accelerated approval, is part of FDA's approach to making therapeutically important drugs available at an earlier time.

For more information, go to FDA's Fast Track, Accelerated Approval and Priority.

Outdated term -- see overall impact/priority score.

Law protecting citizens against needless collection, recordkeeping, or release of personal data and allowing them to see and correct the information.

For more information, go to these resources:

• Privacy Act
• NIAID's Privacy, Conduct, Conflict of Interest, and Clinical Research Ethics questions and answers

Information for which a person can expect that observations or recording are not taking place, and the information will not be made public. Information must be individually identifiable to constitute human subjects research. See coded private information.

For more information, go to these resources:

• 45 CFR 46.102(f)
• 45 CFR 46.
• NIAID Human Subjects Resources portal
• NIAID's Private Information or Biological Specimens in Human Subjects Research questions and answers

NIH announcement requesting grant applications in stated scientific areas, unless a generic parent program announcement.

Generally institutes do not set aside money to pay for the grants (unless a PAS), and applications are considered to be investigator-initiated. For some PAs, NIAID may fund applications with scores beyond the payline.

Institutes publish PAs in the NIH Guide and in Grants.gov as funding opportunity announcements. Also see PAR and PAS.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• NIH Funding Opportunities Relevant to NIAID
• Program Announcements SOP
• Application Approach: What Are Your Choices? in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal

program announcement identifying location of peer review (PAR)

Program announcement that identifies the location of initial peer review, either in the Center for Scientific Review or an institute, and may include other information on receipt, referral, or review. Abbreviation is PAR. See Scientific Review Program.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• Processes for Applications Reviewed at NIAID questions and answers
• NIH Funding Opportunities Relevant to NIAID
• Program Announcements SOP
• Application Approach: What Are Your Choices? in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal

Program announcement with set-aside funds to pay for the grants, abbreviated PAS.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• NIH Funding Opportunities Relevant to NIAID
• Program Announcements SOP
• Application Approach: What Are Your Choices? in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal

IMPAC designator signifying a scientific program, category of research, and program officer. NIAID uses four bytes.

The first denotes division: Division of AIDS -- A, Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Transplantation -- I, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases -- M, or Division of Extramural Activities -- X.

The next two characters denote a scientific program, and the fourth character denotes programs with more than one program officer.

Program class codes allow staff and NIAID's main advisory Council members to see where grant applications and grants reside administratively.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• Program Officers Listed by Program Class Code spreadsheet
• Program Assignment in NIAID SOP

NIAID staff member who oversees a scientific program and the progress of grants in his or her portfolio. Program officers work closely with grants management specialists to administer and resolve issues with NIAID grants. Also called program official.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• Contact Staff for Help
• When to Contact an NIAID Program Officer
• Program Officers SOP

Formerly used term. See Program Officer Checklist.

Checklist in IMPAC used to document a program officer's evaluation of the scientific aspects of a research project, other support to identify possible overlap of support, and other factors that may affect a competing application's funding level.

Previously called program officer approval of a competing application (PACA). Also used to document evaluation of noncompeting progress reports.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• Program Officer Checklist SOP
• Noncompeting Progress Reports and Program Officer Approval SOP

Grant in the P series that supports a multidisciplinary, long-term research program with an objective or theme involving groups of investigators. Awarded on behalf of a principal investigator, the grant can support projects and shared resources.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• Other Grant Types portal
• Instructions for Preparing a Multiproject Research Application
• NIAID Program Project (P01) Applications questions and answers

Required scheduled report summarizing research progress; may include technical, fiscal, and invention report information.

For more information, go to NIAID's Contract Deliverables and Reporting Requirements SOP and Contracts portal.

Total allowable costs, both direct costs and facilities and administrative costs, incurred by a grantee to carry out a project. Costs can be charged to a grant and paid by a grantee to satisfy a matching or cost-sharing requirement.

See the Research and Related Budget components of the Grant Application Package.

For more information, go to NIAID's Strategy for Planning a Budget in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.

Field and attachment to the Research and Related Budget Other Project Information form that describes the public health relevance of the proposed research in three sentences or less.

For more information, go to NIAID's Project Summary/Abstract and Project Narrative in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.

NIAID staff member who coordinates the substantive aspects of a contract from planning a request for proposals to oversight after award.

For more information, go to NIAID's Project Officer SOP and Contracts portal.

Field and attachment to the Research and Related Budget Other Project Information form of an electronic grant application that provides a complete description of what the proposed research intends to accomplish in 30 lines or less.

Abstracts are public and should not include confidential information.

For more information, go to NIAID's Project Summary/Abstract and Project Narrative in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.

Law that ensures companies transacting business with the government are paid on time. The government must pay within 30 days from the date a contractor submits an invoice or must pay interest.

For more information, go to FAR 32.9 and NIAID's Contracts portal.

Written offer by an individual or non-federal organization to enter into a contract, usually in response to a request for proposals. It consists of a technical and a business proposal, including a description of the project and its costs, and the methods, personnel, and facilities to carry it out.

For more information, go to NIAID's Contracts portal and Proposal Submission SOP.

See acceptable proposal.

Interested party's written objection to an agency's contract solicitation, proposed award, or award.

For more information, go to FAR 33.101 and NIAID's Contracts portal.

Formal design for research involving human subjects or research animals an investigator submits to an institutional review board or institutional animal care and use committee for review. For human subjects research, NIAID staff also review protocols.

A protocol generally has an objective, rationale, design, eligibility requirements, treatment regimen, and a description of research and data analysis methods.

For more information, go to NIAID Human Subjects Resources and Animals in Research portals.

Umbrella organization in the U.S. federal government for eight HHS health agencies, the Office of Public Health and Science, and the Commissioned Corps.

For more information, go to Office of Public Health and Science, HHS.

Public source of data, such as census data. The meaning with respect to human tissue specimens is widely debated. Generally, specimens widely accessible by the research community but not the public are not considered to be publicly available.

For more information, go to these resources:

• NIH's OER Human Subjects Web Site: FAQs about Research Using Human Specimens, Cell Lines or Data
• NIAID's Public Access of Publications SOP

Service of the NIH National Library of Medicine providing access to 12 million MEDLINE citations and journals as well as links to full text articles. For more information, go to PubMed.

Free database of the NIH National Library of Medicine housing biomedical and life sciences journal articles. NIH requires investigators to post their manuscripts to PubMed Central.

For more information, go to NIAID's Public Access of Publications SOP and Copyright and Publication for Grantees questions and answers.