NIH Webinar: Single IRB & Exceptions Process – October 18, 2017

September 29, 2017

Would you like to learn more about the implementation of the NIH single Institutional Review Board (sIRB) policy and receive guidance on how to effectively request an exception to the policy directly from NIH experts?  If so, then make plans to join the NIH Office of Extramural Research (OER) on October 18 from 2:00-3:30pm ET for a webinar on scope and applicability and the single IRB plan. ….

NIH Webinars on Peer Review Focus on AREA/R15 & SBIR/STTR – October 16 & 18, 2017

September 28, 2017

The NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR) is the portal for receipt and referral of NIH grant applications, and, for the majority of those applications, carries out the peer review process for assessing scientific and technical merit. In October, CSR will host two “online briefings” on peer review focused on the Academic Research Enhancement AREA/R15 program, and NIH small business (SBIR/STTR) programs. For more information and to register….

Avoid Funding Delays by Ensuring Your Progress Reports are Compliant with the Public Access Policy

September 27, 2017

To advance science and improve human health, peer-reviewed articles arising from NIH funds must be made available to the public on PubMed Central. Grantees should ensure their peer-reviewed manuscripts arising NIH funds are deposited into PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication, as well as reported in their annual Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPRs), to be compliant with the NIH public access policy. As described in NOT-OD-16-079, NIH will not process RPPRs until all papers arising from the award are compliant with the public access policy. That means funding for awards with non-compliant RPPRs could be delayed. The NIH manuscript submission system (NIHMS) is processing papers in about 3 weeks.  We encourage you to ensure compliance well before your RPPR is due to avoid delays processing your RPPR and receiving funding. ….

Patents and the Relative Citation Ratio: Correlations to Assess NIH Impact

September 18, 2017

We previously referenced Ioannidis’ and Khoury’s “PQRST” mnemonic for describing research impact: “P” is productivity, “Q” is quality, “R” is reproducibility, “S” is sharing, and “T” is translation.  We wrote several blogs about “P,” productivity, focusing on publications, citations, and more recently the relative citation ratio.  Now we’ll focus on a different kind of “P” for productivity, namely patents (which arguably are also related to “T” for translation).  …. Do NIH-supported papers that are cited by patents have a higher Relative Citation Ratio than those that are not cited by patents? As a refresher, the Relative Citation Ratio uses citation rates to measure the influence of a publication at the article level…. We identified 119,674 unique NIH grants that were funded between 1995 and 2007 and that generated at least one publication….

Spreading the Word About Policies Impacting Human Subjects Research and Clinical Trials

September 11, 2017

Understanding the impact of the new human subject and clinical trial policies on selecting a funding opportunity announcement, developing an application, the review of applications, and reporting on grant awards will be critical in the upcoming months. …. we have made a variety of resources available to the research community to assist with institutional training and outreach…..

Continuing to Clarify the NIH Definition of a Clinical Trial

September 8, 2017

A few weeks ago we released some case studies and FAQs to help clarify for our research community whether their human subjects research study meets the NIH definition of a clinical trial. These resources prompted a number of follow-on questions and thoughtful suggestions from the community that have helped us refine both the FAQs and the case studies. We are grateful for your thoughtful and constructive comments and suggestions, many of which we have incorporated into our revised documents and communications. ….

NIH’s Certificates of Confidentiality Policy Enhances Confidentiality of Participants Enrolled in Clinical Research Studies

September 7, 2017

A few months ago we blogged about our plan to release an updated Certificate of Confidentiality (CoC) policy. Today, we are pleased to announce that we have published the new policy (NOT-OD-17-109), which will go into effect on October 1, 2017. The new policy both enhances the privacy protections of individuals participating in NIH funded research studies and eliminates the need for NIH funded investigators to apply for a CoC. …

Small Businesses Gather in Milwaukee for 19th Annual HHS SBIR/STTR Conference on Federal Research Funding

September 7, 2017

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is pleased to present the 2017 Annual SBIR/STTR Conference: In The Heartland of BioHealth Innovation. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Administration for Community Living (ACL), and the Office of Inspector General (OIG) will be present to demonstrate and discuss research funding opportunities with interested entrepreneurs and innovators. ….