Notice Number: NOT-OD-20-060
Key Dates
Release Date: January 24, 2020
NOT-OD-17-042 RESCINDED
NOT-OD-18-178 RESCINDED
Issued by
CENTER FOR SCIENTIFIC REVIEW (CSR)
Purpose
This Notice alerts the scientific research community of plans to discontinue the practice of granting one-year continuous submission status to reviewers with recent substantial review service, which was earned by serving 6 times in an 18 month period. NIH is deeply appreciative of those who regularly serve on our advisory groups. However, prior policy had unintended consequences, among them encouraging excessive review service and thus disproportionate influence by some. NIH believes that diverse advisory groups with a range of familiar and fresh voices best identify high impact research. Limiting over-utilization of the same reviewers on advisory groups is one step NIH is taking to address this goal. Implementation of this change is being done so as to honor commitments to those who have already served under the prior policy:
Effective February 8, 2020, the continuous submission deadlines for assignment to each council round have been moved back approximately one week (see Table 1). Moving the deadlines for assignment to each council round to a slightly earlier date will allow more of these applications to be assigned to study sections whenever scientifically reasonable.
Continuous submission eligibility for appointed members of NIH committees and other terms/requirements of the overall policy have not changed, with the exception that the deadlines for assignment to a given council round are as defined in Table 1.
POLICY
Eligibility:
Continuous submission eligibility covers appointed members of:
Appointed regular members of NIH committees are appointed by the Director, NIH (or the Director, NCI); the Secretary, DHHS; or the President of the United States.
Eligibility begins on the date the appointment becomes active and continues for six weeks after the official date of retirement from appointed committee service. Thus, if retirement from appointed service occurs on June 30, continuous submission is permitted until August 16 of that year.
Continuous submission eligibility can be viewed in the reviewer's eRA Commons Personal Profile, in the Reviewer Information section.
eRA Commons users with account administration roles (e.g., SO – Signing Official, AO – Administrative Official, AA – Account Administrator, BO – Business Official) can check an investigator’s eligibility using the Advanced Search feature in the Admin module.
The list of currently eligible reviewers can be found on the NIH Continuous Submission page.
Continuous Submission applies to NIH applications that satisfy both criteria:
Continuous Submission does not apply to:
How does Continuous Submission relate to the NIH Late Policy?
Processing and Review schedule:
Schedule For Assignment to Advisory Council Rounds Under Continuous Submission Option
Submission is Continuous – Council Deadlines are not
For example, a non-AIDS R01 application due October 5 for May Council review may be submitted by a continuous submission-eligible PD/PI through December 10. Applications received on or after December 11 will be assigned to October Council for second level review and funding consideration.
Table 1.
For the Advisory |
Non-AIDS |
Continuous Submission Non-AIDS Application Receipt Period Ends |
|
R01 |
R21, R34 |
R01, R21, R34 |
|
May |
October 5 November 5 |
October 16 November 16 |
December 10 |
October |
February 5 March 5 |
February 16 March 16 |
April 10 |
January |
June 5 July 5 |
June 16 July 16 |
August 10 |
For the Advisory |
AIDS Application Due Dates |
Continuous Submission AIDS |
R01, R21, R34 |
R01, R21, R34 |
|
May |
January 7 |
February 1 |
October |
May 7 |
June 1 |
January |
September 7 |
October 1 |
Inquiries
Please direct all inquiries to:
Frequently Asked Questions and answers have been prepared (see https://grants.nih.gov/grants/peer/faq_continuous_submission.htm).
Any remaining issues/appeals may be directed to a NIH Continuous Submission Committee by emailing CSR.cont.sub.comm@csr.nih.gov