Continued Support for Early Stage Investigators in FY 2023

For the past several years, we have reported on the number of early stage investigators (ESIs) supported on R01-equivalent awards. Last year, we reported that NIH supported 1,609 ESIs in fiscal year (FY) 2022, a continued steady increase over the last several years. Despite a slight decrease, we continued to support a large number of ESIs in FY 2023, notably at an earlier age than other new investigators.

For more than a decade, we and the research community have become more concerned about the challenges faced by ESIs pursuing careers in an increasingly competitive funding and hiring environment. For this reason, NIH has made considerable efforts to enhance support for ESIs pursuing NIH support, such as through the Next Generation Researchers Initiative and other related policies.

In this post, for simplicity we refer to investigators applying for and receiving awards. But, as a reminder, NIH makes R01-equivalent awards to institutions (not individual researchers).

Table 1 shows the number of PIs that applied for or received an R01-equivalent grant in FYs 2016 – 2023, disaggregated by career stage. In FY 2023, there were 5,325 ESI applicants and 1,587 ESI awardees, slight decreases compared to FY 2022.

Table 1. PIs on Type 1 R01-Equivalent Applications and Awards by Career Stage for FYs 2016-2023

	Early Stage Investigators			New, Not Early			At-Risk			Established
FY	Applicants	Awardees	Awardees (% Change)	Applicants	Awardees	Awardees (% Change)	Applicants	Awardees	Awardees (% Change)	Applicants	Awardees	Awardees (% Change)
2016	4,149	978	NA	5,862	942	NA	7,687	1,664	NA	7,294	2,086	NA
2017	4,286	1,045	6.9	6,148	916	-2.8	7,629	1,630	-2.0	7,889	2,255	8.1
2018	4,720	1,287	23.2	6,745	1,215	32.6	7,948	2,153	32.1	9,048	2,992	32.7
2019	4,746	1,316	2.3	7,193	1,295	6.6	7,916	2,163	0.5	9,614	3,007	0.5
2020	5,106	1,412	7.3	7,323	1,301	0.5	7,821	2,108	-2.5	10,140	3,340	11.1
2021	5,410	1,513	7.2	7,694	1,280	-1.6	7,985	2,026	-3.9	11,010	3,392	1.6
2022	5,435	1,609	6.3	7,241	1,257	-1.8	7,736	2,087	3.0	11,045	3,598	6.1
2023	5,325	1,587	-1.4	6,755	1,214	-3.40	7,695	2,075	-0.6	11,000	3,511	-2.4

Table 2 shows the number of R01-equivalent applications submitted, discussed during review, and awarded by career stage. In FY 2023, the ESI discussion rate rose by 1.7% compared to FY 2022, while the funding rate remained around 30%.

Table 2. Discussion and Funding Rates for PIs on Type 1 R01-Equivalent Applications and Awards in FYs 2022-2023 Disaggregated by Career Stage

Career Stage	FY	Applicants	Discussed	Awardees	Discussion Rate (%)*	Funding Rate (%)
Early Stage	2022	5,435	3,466	1,609	63.8%	29.6%
	2023	5,325	3,487	1,587	65.5%	29.8%
New, Not Early	2022	7,241	3,750	1,257	51.8%	17.4%
	2023	6,755	3,547	1,214	52.5%	18.0%

* The Discussion Rate is a person-based metric that is the percent of applicants (actually people designated as PIs on an application) who had at least one application make it to the discussion stage of peer review.

Feedback on our recent blog on age at first R01- equivalent award asked how PI age correlated with career stage. The thought is that ESIs should have a lower age at first award than other PIs. We looked into this in Table 3, which shows the age of ESIs and new, not early PIs at the time of application and first award for FYs 2016-2023. During that period, the median age of ESIs at first award was 39 while the age of first-time non-ESI researchers was around 47. These data suggest our focus on ESIs may be lowering the age at which new investigators receive their first NIH award. 

Table 3. Age of PIs at the Time of Application and Award for Type 1 R01-Equivalent Awards for FYs 2016-2023

Career Stage	FY	Number of Applicants	Mean age at Application (Years)	Median Age at Application (Years)	Number of Awardees	Mean age at Award (Years)	Median Age at Award (Years)
Early Stage	2016	3,890	40	39	933	39	39
	2017	3,994	40	39	986	39	39
	2018	4,410	40	39	1,228	40	39
	2019	4,428	40	39	1,240	40	39
	2020	4,742	40	39	1,321	40	39
	2021	5,011	40	39	1,428	40	39
	2022	5,029	40	39	1,503	40	39
	2023	4,970	40	40	1,491	40	39
New, Not Early	2016	4,831	49	48	828	48	47
	2017	5,049	49	48	802	47	46
	2018	5,504	49	48	1,076	48	46
	2019	5,823	49	48	1,126	47	46
	2020	5,804	50	48	1,090	48	47
	2021	5,979	50	48	1,055	48	47
	2022	5,692	50	48	1,046	49	47
	2023	5444	50	49	1027	49	47

The next set of data focus on gender (Table 4), race (Table 5), ethnicity (Table 6), and disability status (Table 7). Please note that we use the White House’s Office of Management and Budget Minimum Standards for collecting and reporting race and ethnicity data (see this Nexus article for more information). Additionally, the total number of applicants and awards may be lower than presented in tables one and two, as some PIs may not self-report demographic information on their eRA profiles.

Female ESIs had higher funding rates than male ESIs in FY 2022. However, in FY 2023, male ESIs had a higher funding rate (Table 4). In contrast, the funding rate for new, non-ESI PIs identifying as female remained higher in FY 2023.

Table 4. FYs 2022-2023 Data for PIs on Type 1 R01-Equivalent Applications and Awards Disaggregated by Gender

Career Stage	Gender	FY	Applicants	Discussed	Awardees	Discussion Rate (%)	Funding Rate (%)
Early Stage	Female	2022	2,447	1,597	748	65.3%	30.6%
		2023	2,476	1,588	740	64.1%	29.9%
	Male	2022	2,732	1,731	798	63.4%	29.2%
		2023	2,582	1,733	787	67.1%	30.5%
New, Not Early	Female	2022	2,474	1,380	496	55.8%	20.0%
		2023	2,389	1,270	461	53.2%	19.3%
	Male	2022	3,570	1,847	589	51.7%	16.5%
		2023	3,380	1,824	614	54.0%	18.2%

The number of Black or African American ESIs continued to grow in FY 2023 compared to previous years (Table 5). Further, the discussion and funding rates for Black and African American ESIs increased in FY 2023 compared to FY 2022, but these rates remained somewhat below those for Asian or White PIs.

Table 5. FYs 2022-2023 Data for PIs on Type 1 R01-Equivalent Applications and Awards Disaggregated by Race

Career Stage	Race	FY	Applicants	Discussed	Awardees	Discussion Rate (%)	Funding Rate (%)
Early Stage	Asian	2022	1,464	933	422	63.7%	28.8%
		2023	1,450	949	406	65.4%	28.0%
	Black or African American	2022	232	128	54	55.2%	23.3%
		2023	281	163	77	58.0%	27.4%
	White	2022	3,141	2,026	944	64.5%	30.1%
		2023	3,002	2,000	933	66.6%	31.1%
New, Not Early	Asian	2022	1,757	931	291	53.0%	16.6%
		2023	1,739	931	322	53.5%	18.5%
	Black or African American	2022	255	123	50	48.2%	19.6%
		2023	265	115	42	43.4%	15.8%
	White	2022	3,535	1,898	643	53.7%	18.2%
		2023	3,298	1,802	634	54.6%	19.2%

In FY 2022, the discussion and funding rates for ESIs were similar for those who did and did not identify as Hispanic or Latino. However, in FY 2023, the discussion and funding rates for Hispanic or Latino ESIs fell below those of their non-Hispanic or Latino counterparts (Table 6).

Table 6. FYs 2022-2023 Data for PIs on Type 1 R01-Equivalent Applications and Awards Disaggregated by Ethnicity

Career Stage	Ethnicity	FY	Applicants	Discussed	Awardees	Discussion Rate (%)	Funding Rate (%)
Early Stage	Hispanic or Latino	2022	330	210	98	63.6%	29.7%
		2023	369	228	99	61.8%	26.8%
	Not Hispanic or Latino	2022	4,706	2,998	1,395	63.7%	29.6%
		2023	4,591	3,029	1,387	66.0%	30.2%
New, Not Early	Hispanic or Latino	2022	430	214	77	49.8%	17.9%
		2023	417	219	77	52.5%	18.5%
	Not Hispanic or Latino	2022	5,178	2,786	942	53.8%	18.2%
		2023	4,974	2,678	943	53.8%	19.0%

In FY 2023, PI’s reporting a disability had lower discussion and funding rates than those who do not (Table 7). However, those rates did increase for ESIs compared to FY 2022.

Table 7. FYs 2022-2023 Data for PIs on Type 1 R01-Equivalent Applications and Awards Disaggregated by Disability Status

Career Stage	Disability Status	FY	Applicants	Discussed	Awardees	Discussion Rate (%)	Funding Rate (%)
Early Stage	Yes	2022	99	53	18	53.5%	18.2%
		2023	116	75	31	64.7%	26.7%
	No	2022	5,156	3,300	1,542	64.0%	29.9%
		2023	5,035	3,293	1,501	65.4%	29.8%
	Unknown	2022	180	113	49	62.8%	27.2%
		2023	174	119	55	68.4%	31.6%
New, Not Early	Yes	2022	86	36	8	41.9%	9.3%
		2023	82	36	8	43.9%	9.8%
	No	2022	6,057	3,256	1,106	53.8%	18.3%
		2023	5,710	3,068	1,074	53.7%	18.8%
	Unknown	2022	1,098	458	143	41.7%	13.0%
		2023	963	443	132	45.9%	13.6%

In recent years NIH’s ESI policies have supported a growing number of early career researchers. This focus also appears to have helped lower the age at which ESIs receive their first R01-equivalent award. We encourage you to visit our page on ESI policies for more information on the ways we support early career researchers.