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As the April and June deadlines for fellowship (F) and career development (K) applications approach, we encourage you to get a jump start on helping your referees submit those reference letters through the eRA Commons. Share this handy eRA video tutorial to give referees an overview of the submission process. You may also want to remind your referees that NIH will accept their letters prior to the submission of the grant application itself. Early letters will be held by NIH and linked to the appropriate application in eRA Commons once it has been received.
Please revise the instructions provided in this tutorial which indicates that a ‘form’ is required for letters of reference in fellowship applicatons. As per current SF424 (R&R) instructions:
‘The Fellowship Reference Form will no longer be used. Reference letters will be submitted through eRA….and will not require a specific form.’
I spend long hours helping trainees with fellowship application preparation. This is an arduous challenge for most trainees…the last thing they/we need is confusion that originates with the NIH.
Also note that the computer-generated voice mispronounces ‘referee’ throughout most of the presentation. Our trainees are tech savvy and will question the approach to communications used by the NIH.