Search Tips for NIH Opportunities

Tips for NIH's Explore Grant Opportunities Tool

The Explore NIH Grant Opportunities tool provides NIH-specific filters, table sorting, and advanced search options to help you quickly identify funding opportunities posted on Grants.gov.

You can hover your mouse or click on the small icons for an explanation of each interface option.

Select the Funding Category, filter by Funding Organization, and/or enter Keywords to refine your search results.

The Keyword search supports these options:

• To find exact words or phrases, place in quotation marks. E.g., "Clinical Trials"
• To find all words or phrases, place a plus sign between the words. E.g., Clinical + Trials
• To remove certain words or phrases, place a plus and a minus symbol before words. E.g., +-Diabetes

The Advanced Search includes Release Date Range, Application Types Allowed, Activity Code, Clinical Trials, and more.

Above the table of results, you can choose between Table View and Detailed View. Try both and decide which you like best.

To save your customized search, you can:

• Export Results — Download in CSV spreadsheet format
• Share Results — Copy a custom URL link for yourself or others to use

Tips for Grants.gov Searches

Grants.gov's Search supports the following options:

• Use keyword searches and filters for Opportunity Status, Funding Instrument, Eligibility, Agency, and more.
• Export search results and log in to save your favorite searches.
• To search for a specific Assistance Listing Number (ALN), enter it in the Keyword search field. 

You can save and copy Grants.gov search queries as links to share with others. Here are examples of shared search links:

• Search open and forecasted NIH opportunities
• Search open and forecasted NIH opportunities for keyword “cancer”

Get Email Notifications of New Grant Opportunities

Use Grants.gov Subscriptions to get email notifications:

• Subscribe to Saved Searches. Use the "Add Saved Search" button, enter your parameters, and click Save.
• Subscribe to Specific Opportunities. Use the "Add Opportunity Subscription" button and enter the NIH opportunity number (e.g., PA-26-001) to be notified about changes to a particular opportunity.

Direct any questions about Grants.gov subscriptions to the Grants.gov Support Center.

How to Download the Full Announcement on Grants.gov

For any opportunity of interest, follow these steps to locate and download the full announcement:

1. Find an opportunity of interest. (E.g., PA-26-001.)
2. Scroll down to the "Documents" section near the end of the page. (E.g., Documents for PA-26-001.)
3. Click the link to the full announcement. If there are multiple links listed, choose the most recently updated version.
4. Check back regularly before you apply to stay aware of the latest version of the full announcement.

Direct any questions about Grants.gov to the Grants.gov Support Center.

Learn More About NIH Funding

Visit the Funding section for additional ways to explore NIH funding categories, find a fit for your research, funding data, and official notices.