**Please Note**
The information in this section is part of our archive of SRS Updates. It is provided for reference only and may be outdated.

We keep these records available to support transparency and historical reference. If you’re unsure about any information, it’s best to confirm with the sponsor or SRS.

NIH Simplified Peer Review Framework

NIH is simplifying peer review for most research project grants (RPGs) for application due dates of January 25, 2025 or later in order to address the complexity of the peer review process and the potential for reputational bias to affect peer review outcomes.

The Simplified Framework for NIH Peer Review Criteria retains the five regulatory criteria (Significance, Investigators, Innovation, Approach, Environment) but reorganizes them into three factors — two will receive numerical criterion scores and one will be evaluated for sufficiency.

All three factors will be considered in arriving at the Overall Impact score. The reframing of the criteria serves to focus reviewers on three central questions reviewers should be evaluating: How important is the proposed research, how rigorous and feasible are the methods, and whether the investigators and institution have the expertise/resources necessary to carry out the project.

· Factor 1: Importance of the Research (Significance, Innovation), scored 1-9

· Factor 2: Rigor and Feasibility (Approach), scored 1-9

· Factor 3: Expertise and Resources (Investigator, Environment), to be evaluated as either sufficient for the proposed research or not (in which case reviewers must provide an explanation)

The change to having peer reviewers assess the adequacy of investigator expertise and institutional resources as a binary choice is designed to have reviewers evaluate Investigator and Environment with respect to the work proposed. It is intended to reduce the potential for general scientific reputation to have an undue influence.

NIH’s Adoption of Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support by May 25, 2025

NIH Notice NOT-OD-24-163

May 25, 2025 may seem a long way off but NIH wants to give researchers an early notice of this coming change so that they will have time to prepare.

· NIH will require the use of Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae (SciENcv) to complete Common Forms (i.e., Biographical Sketch, Current and Pending (Other) Support) and the NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement to produce digitally certified PDF(s) for use in application submission.

· NIH will require all Senior/Key Personnel to enter their ORCID ID into SciENcv in the Persistent Identifier (PID) section of the Common Forms.

· NIH will require all Senior/Key Personnel to link their ORCID ID to their eRA Commons Personal Profile.

NIH currently plans to continue collecting three required agency specific data elements (i.e., Personal Statement, Contributions to Science, and Honors) to assess qualifications. These data elements will be collected separately from the Common Forms on a new NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement.

If the application due date is on or before May 24, 2025, you must continue using the current NIH Biosketch and Other Support format pages for applications, Just-in-Time (JIT) and RPPRs.

NIH – Coming Soon: FORMS-I

Effective for applications submitted for due dates on or after January 25, 2025.

FORMS-I will incorporate updates related to multiple NIH initiatives:

• Improvements to the NIH Fellowship Application and Review Process.

• Updates to NRSA Training Grant Applications.

• Adoption of the Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support for submission of applications and RPPRs by May 2025.

FORMS-I application guide and forms packages will be available in Fall 2024.

Planned Reporting DMS Plan Activities in RPPR

On May 9, 2024, NOT-OD-24-123 informed the extramural community of planned changes to the RPPR to address the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy.

NIH will require progress reports (RPPR) to address NIH DMS activities, including updates on data sharing, repositories, and unique identifiers for data that have been shared.

The updated NIH RPPR Instruction Guide will be posted to the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) page, and NIH plans to implement the new DMS reporting questions for RPPRs submitted on or after October 1, 2024.

NSF PAPPG NSF 24-1 New Version

NSF has announced that a revised version of the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 24-1) has been issued. The new PAPPG will be effective for proposals submitted or due on or after May 20, 2024.

You can review the by-chapter Summary of Changes provided in the PAPPG. NSF presented information about these changes in a webinar on March 12that 2 PM EST. This can be watched on demand at https://nsfpolicyoutreach.com/resources/nsf-proposal-award-policy-updates/

Please note this version of the PAPPG becomes effective on May 20, 2024, in the interim, the guidelines contained in the current PAPPG (NSF 23-1) continue to apply. 

Changes that affect proposal preparation

  • Biographical Sketch(es):  This section has been revised to remove the 3-page limitation for the biographical sketch. There is no page limitation for this section of the proposal.  The Synergistic Activities section has been removed from the biographical sketch. This information must now be submitted by individuals designated as senior/key persons as part of the senior/key personnel documents in Research.gov.
  • Mentoring Plan:  Proposals will require a mentoring plan for postdoctoral researchers or graduate students supported on the project. This page limitation for the Mentoring Plan remains one page.
  • New checkbox on the Cover Sheet to indicate if there are “Potential Impacts on Tribal Nations.”  NSF will not award projects that may impact Tribal Resources or Interests unless the project has prior written approval from officials designated by the relevant Tribal Nations(s).

NIH Moving to Updated Application Forms

Concurrent with implementation of the simplified review framework, NIH is transitioning to updated application forms (FORMS-I)

  • FORMS-I application forms must be used for applications with due dates on or after January 25, 2025
  • The updated forms and instructions will be available in the Fall of 2024
  • See Forms-I Notice (NOT-OD-24-086) for more information

Simplified Review Framework for NIH Research Project Grant Applications

NIH announces a new framework for the peer review of most research project grant (RPG) applications beginning with submissions for due dates on or after January 25, 2025. The simplified review framework is expected to better focus peer reviewers on the key questions needed to assess the scientific and technical merit of proposed research projects: “Should the proposed research project be conducted?” “Can the proposed research project be conducted?”

  • Factor 1: Importance of the Research (Significance, Innovation), scored 1-9
  • Factor 2: Rigor and Feasibility (Approach), scored 1-9
  • Factor 3: Expertise and Resources (Investigator, Environment), to be evaluated with a selection from a drop-down menu
    • Appropriate (no written explanation needed)
    • Identify need for additional expertise and/or resources (requires reviewer to briefly address specific gaps in expertise or resources needed to carry out the project) 

Peer review will no longer evaluate the following Additional Review Considerations: Applications from Foreign Organizations, Select Agents, and Resource Sharing Plans. These considerations will instead be administratively reviewed by NIH prior to funding.

OMB Releases Revisions to Uniform Guidance

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issues guidance regarding government-wide policies for the award and administration of Federal financial assistance, often referred to as the Uniform Guidance. An updated version of this guidance was released in April 2024. This becomes effective October 1, 2024.

Please visit here for more information.