Age of Principal Investigators at the Time of First R01-Equivalent Remains Level with Recent Years in FY 2023

May 6, 2024

In 2021, we showed that the age at which a researcher is designated on an NIH award for the first time had increased since 1995 and plateaued in the 2010s, and that age differences were most correlated with the terminal degree of the investigator. Today we are sharing an update on these data for FYs 2021-2023, including information related to degree, gender, race, ethnicity, and disability status.

Updated Analyses Suggest Continued Decline in Research Project Grant Funding Inequalities for NIH-Supported Investigators, but Organizational Inequalities Remain: FY 1998 to FY 2023

April 19, 2024

We previously showed that the inequalities in the distribution of Research Project Grant funding to principal investigators increased, especially at the top end of funding, during the NIH budget doubling and the first few years after the 2013 budget sequestration. The degree of inequality appeared to fall, however, after NIH implemented the Next Generation Researchers Initiative. Here we present follow-up data that shows that the trends seen in recent years appear to be continuing in fiscal year 2023.

How Many Researchers: The FY 2023 Cumulative Investigator Rate 

March 6, 2024

We are pleased to share our annual snapshot of how many researchers NIH supports. Our cumulative investigator rate is an NIH-wide person-based metric, calculated as the number of unique principal investigators designated on an NIH research project grant award, divided by the number of unique principal investigators who were designated on applications over a five-year period.

Unmasking Potential: Introducing New Beta Version Tool for Biomedical Dataset Discovery

February 16, 2024

In a world of rapidly changing digital expectations, new formats to access and store information, and a dynamic biomedical landscape, users want to connect to data across an abundant, widely available, and growing ecosystem of biomedical research with one click. That is the future we are working to create by leveling up our dataset discovery technology to better understand user expectations and enhance the user experience.

Trends in NIH-Supported Basic, Translational, and Clinical Research: FYs 2009-2022

October 31, 2023

I often hear concerns raised that NIH does not fund enough basic research, or enough applied research for that matter. Basically, the concerns center around what is the correct balance. It is an important point to consider, as a better understanding of these wider research areas can shed light on NIH’s approach to higher-level priority setting and funding decisions. To get at this question, we leveraged the Research, Condition, and Disease Classification (RCDC) system and looked at trends in NIH funding of these areas between fiscal years (FYs) 2009 and 2022.