Make that Application Complete Upon Initial Submission

Posted

In the fall (starting with applications submitted for the September 25, 2010 receipt date), NIH will implement a new policy restricting the types of late grant application materials we will accept. The policy will encourage applications to be complete and ready for review upon submission.

We understand that sometimes events happen after the application has been submitted and before the review takes place that reviewers need to know about in order to provide an informed evaluation of the application. To accommodate these unforeseen circumstances, we will continue to allow certain types of late materials, such as:

  • Revised budget page(s) (e.g., change in budget request due to new funding or institutional acquisition)
  • Biographical sketches (e.g., change in senior/key personnel due to the loss of an investigator)
  • Letters of support or collaboration resulting from a change in senior/key personnel due to the loss of an investigator
  • Adjustments resulting from natural disasters (e.g., loss of an animal colony)
  • Adjustments resulting from change of institution (e.g., PI moved to another university)
  • News of an article accepted for publication

As before, these materials must be received 30 days prior to the initial peer review and require the concurrence of the Authorized Organizational Representative to be included in the application. In addition, investigators will be able to submit a one-page explanation to accompany these materials.

We will not accept substantial changes to the application such as updates to the Specific Aims or the Research Strategy, late-breaking research findings, supplemental pages, and new letters of support that do not meet the afore mentioned situation. These materials should be included in the initial application submission.

Note that there is an exception for many types of training programs. For these programs we will allow three pages of post-submission materials to present new information or data about the applicants that was not available at the time of application submission.

To read more about these new policies, see the Enhancing Peer Review Advance Notice: New NIH Policy on Post-Submission Application Materials (NOT-OD-10-091) and Enhancing Peer Review: Advance Notice on Post-Submission Application Materials for NIH Training and Related Applications (NOT-OD-10-104).