Case Study in Review Integrity – The Seminar Trip
September 14, 2021
A cautionary tale about a breach of review integrity in the guise of a normal professional interaction.
Tag: Peer review
Clarified Guidance for Applicants Preparing Applications During the COVID-19 Pandemic
August 27, 2021
NIH recently issued a clarification indicating that while grant applications should not include contingency or recovery plans for problems resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, investigators may address effects due to the pandemic on productivity or other scoreable issues in the personal statement of the biosketch.
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Case Study in Review Integrity – The Professional Grant Writer
May 24, 2021
An NIH peer reviewer was approached by a well-known professional grant writing service to assist a client in preparing an NIH grant application. The service advertised phenomenal success in securing NIH funding for its clients. What would you do? …
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New Reviewer Resources for Assessing the Vertebrate Animals Section
April 14, 2021
Developing your application and wondering how reviewers will assess the vertebrate animal section (VAS)? If so, we encourage you to check out these two new resources. Read on for more…
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CSR’s Commitment to Advancing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Peer Review
March 8, 2021
On March 1, NIH Director Francis Collins announced NIH’s broad-based initiative, UNITE, to end structural racism and racial inequities in biomedical science. This is a recognition of the need for urgent, sustained effort on many fronts across the research enterprise, including in all parts of the NIH’s extramural processes, to change culture. While the NIH Institutes and Centers will examine their programmatic priorities and discretionary funding practices, here at CSR, we are committed to pushing ahead with efforts to protect the peer review process from the systemic biases that exist in all areas of the scientific community.
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Ever Wondered What Happens During the Scientific Review of an NIH Grant Application?
February 23, 2021
Understanding how peer review works is key to writing a good grant application. In this 44-minute video, NIH Peer Review: “Live” Mock Study Section, scientists have gathered virtually to review three fictional applications in response to a fictional Request For Applications (RFA).
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Case Study in Review Integrity: Sharing an Application Being Reviewed
December 18, 2020
Sharing an application with anyone who has not been officially designated to participate in the peer review process is a big no-no. It undermines the integrity of peer review. It disregards the confidentiality that is required of peer reviewers, who specifically sign a confidentiality agreement before accessing the applications. And it is specifically prohibited by NIH peer review policy.
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Should We Keep Meeting This Way?
November 19, 2020
How will study sections meet in the future? NIH peer review depends on robust meetings where groups of scientists, through vigorous discussion, identify the applications of highest merit. For the last 75 years, until last March, nearly all chartered review committee meetings were held in-person. Today, in response to the pandemic, 90% of all CSR review meetings are run as video (“Zoom”) meetings. CSR is taking steps now so that when all options are back on the table, we can make informed choices about how best to convene review meetings.
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Case Study in Review Integrity: Abuse of Power
September 2, 2020
What would you do if, as the Dean of Research at a major university, a group of students, postdocs, and junior faculty reported that they had been pressured into writing reviewer critiques for a senior faculty member?
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Anonymizing Peer Review for the NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award Applications
May 27, 2020
NIH is seeking applications for the 2021 Transformative Research awards through a new funding opportunity (RFA-RM-20-013) recently released on Friday, May 21, 2020. And, as a way to address concerns about bias in peer review while also enhancing diversity, this High Risk, High Reward program is going to anonymize the review of Transformative Research Award applications.
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