How the NIH Can Help You Get Funded

Table of Contents Foreword Preface Acknowledgments Essential Steps for Securing NIH Funding: A Quick Guide to Key Concepts Abbreviations Chapter 1: National Institutes of Health · Overview of agency organization and activities · Congressional authorization and appropriations · Office of the Director components and oversight · Overview of grant application and award process, including timeline over three fiscal years Chapter 2: Institutes and Centers · Overview of each institute and center, with a common data set for each (key links, contact information, details on how funding decisions are made) · Advisory Council role · Funding trend data where available (number of applications scored and funded at each percentile for FY12 and in some cases FY11) Chapter 3: Center for Scientific Review and the Peer Review Process · Overview of CSR and its activities · Application referral to an IC and study section · Picking the right reviewers · How your application is reviewed (in person and on the Internet) · Tips for crafting your application to help the reviewers · How your application is scored and what the score means · How percentiles are calculated and the difference between percentile, payline, and success rate · Becoming a reviewer Chapter 4: Office of Extramural Research · Overview of OER and its activities · Finding and understanding funding opportunities · Preparing the application package · Overview of eRA Commons · Overview of NIH grants policy Chapter 5: Federal Budget Process · Impact of federal budget status on NIH funding decisions · Process of proposing and passing the federal budget (and NIH appropriation) · How you can advocate for more NIH funding · What ICs do once they have their final appropriation Chapter 6: NIH Funding Data and Trends · Overview of available funding data · Change in success rate by R01 application type and submission (FY03, FY12) · Using NIH data to enhance your grant strategy Chapter 7: Getting at Mechanism · Overview of NIH funding mechanisms · Research grants (R) · Small business research project grant mechanisms · Research programs (P) · Career development (K) · Research training (F, T) · Supplements and bridge funding Chapter 8: Telling Your Story Well · Overview of developing your proposal, including where to put preliminary data · Correlation between individual criterion scores and impact score · Specific aims · Approach · Significance · Innovation · Introduction · Protection of research subjects · Project summary (abstract) · Investigators and environment · Cover letter · Budget Chapter 9: Presenting Your Message Well · Organizing your ideas in parallel with review process · Reader-friendly formatting tips · Science of communicating (rhetoric) · Videos in NIH applications Chapter 10: Getting by with a Little Help from Your Friends · Interacting with POs (tips and etiquette) · Importance of having others read your narrative Chapter 11: Before and After the Review · Interacting with the SRO before the review · What to expect the week your application is reviewed · When and how to interact with your PO after the review · Council actions after the review · Why appeals are rarely a good idea (and what to do when one is warranted) · Administrative review of the application and award processing Chapter 12: Is the Check in the Mail? · Understanding what your score and, if included, percentile mean · Timing of payline setting and funding decisions · Interacting with your PO Chapter 13: The Check is Not in the Mail · Next-steps if your application was not discussed or did not make the paylist · Strategies for resubmission · Timing of resubmission · Whether to change study sections · Repurposing your application · Long-term grant application strategy Chapter 14: The Check is in the Mail, BUT · Reduction in budget and/or number of years · If you relocate to another institution · Carrying funds over from one FY to the next and no-cost extensions · Compliance with NIH Public Access Policy required for non-competing renewal and citing NIH support in manuscripts Appendix A Index