September 23, 2014
Frequent readers of the blog and the Extramural Nexus know that RePORT is your first stop on the way to finding information about NIH funded research, as well as data on trends in NIH funding and the biomedical workforce. But did you know NIH is collaborating with other agencies to create Federal RePORTER, a single web portal that allows you to search federal-funded science projects across multiple agencies? While the site is still in alpha testing, we’ve recently added a new partner agency’s data, so I thought it would be a great time to introduce you to this resource. ….
September 22, 2014
An article published in Science last week discusses the value of creating a global map of health R&D activity to improve coordination of research and create a “global observatory” for health research. I encourage you to check it out, and I also thought it was a timely reminder for discussing updates to the world research reporting tool I blogged about in March last year. The World Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool (World RePORT) located at http://WorldRePORT.NIH.gov is an online database and map of research funded by NIH and other members of the Heads of International Research Organizations (HIROs). ….
July 11, 2014
A question that I hear often from investigators is: are my chances of funding increased or decreased by submitting a multi-PI application? It was seven years ago that NIH implemented the Multiple Principal Investigator Policy to encourage interdisciplinary and team approaches to biomedical research, and give scientists the option to apply with their peers and allow for equal credit for leadership of the research program. While the single-PI model works well, and continues to be the model for most of NIH’s research grants, the multi-PI option recognizes that as health research grows in scale and complexity, scientific teams may better reflect the intellectual and scientific leadership within a given grant application. So, let’s look at some data on how multi-PI applications fare in comparison to single-PI applications. ….
June 30, 2014
A major report on the Physician-Scientist Workforce was presented and discussed at the most recent Advisory Council to the Director (ACD) meeting. It was a highly anticipated follow-up to the Biomedical Workforce report from a couple years earlier. I want to follow-up my earlier post with a closer look at some key points presentation by the Physician-Scientist Workforce (PSW) working group.
April 29, 2014
The strength of the biomedical research enterprise depends on new researchers becoming independent NIH-funded researchers, bringing fresh ideas and perspectives for solving scientific questions. As we have discussed here and in other venues, we are keenly aware that the long training period, aging of the biomedical workforce, and the fiscally challenging times all impact the ability of individuals to move from training positions into independent research positions. ….
April 11, 2014
RePORT is your go-to source for NIH data, and I’m excited to let you know about a new addition to the NIH Data Book on RePORT: data on peer review across NIH. The new “NIH Peer Review” section provides information related to initial peer review across NIH. It includes data on peer review organized by the Center of Scientific Review as well as by NIH institutes and centers. ….
March 5, 2014
Let’s delve a bit deeper into one of your and my favorite topics: success rates. Most of you monitor success rates as an indicator of NIH funding trends but also as the main way to determine your chances of receiving an NIH award. But what exactly do these rates mean? ….
January 10, 2014
I’m pleased to announce that the NIH Data Book has been updated with statistics of fiscal year 2013 grant funding. There is much to look at throughout the Data Book so I encourage each of you to do so, but let me just highlight some notable trends. Application success rates, as I blogged about in December, declined in 2013 to a historic low. ….
December 18, 2013
As we go into the last few weeks of the year, my office is busy working up the final numbers on application data for this year. Although the complete set of application data, tables, and graphs will not be available until later in January, I thought I would provide an early snapshot on success rates for 2013 competing research project grant (RPG) applications and awards. …..
November 14, 2013
I have seen the very recent report and follow-on discussions that NIH is considering asking institutions to limit grant applications as a way to control demand. Let me present the facts. You may remember the dialogue we had back in October 2011 on how NIH should manage science in fiscally challenging times. The option of limiting applications was raised at that time but was discarded at the outset and we are not pursuing it now. ….
9 Comments