Notice Number: NOT-OD-07-002

Key Dates
Release Date:   October 5, 2006
Effective Date:  October 5, 2006 (Immediately)

Issued by
National Institutes of Health (NIH), (http://www.nih.gov)
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), (http://www.ahrq.gov/)

The instructions in the PHS416-1 have been revised to clarify the following issues.  The revised instructions and Form Pages are required to be used immediately in all application submissions regardless of submission date.   Revised instructions and Form pages have been posted on the NIH Forms Page at:  http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/funding/416/phs416.htm

Face Page, Item 4b ERA Commons User Name
This item is now a required field for NIH applications.  The NIH announced in NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-06-066 that all notifications for assignment mailers would be discontinued.  In a previous Notice (NOT-OD-05-075) NIH announced the elimination of mailing Peer Review Outcomes and Summary Statements.  Since these procedural changes affected individual fellowship applications as well, applicant/fellows must now be registered in the eRA Commons in order to access assignment mailer information, summary statements as well as other useful information and documents.  Applicant/Fellows should work with the administrative officials at the sponsoring institution to be registered.

There has been some reluctance in research organizations to create eRA Commons accounts with the PI role for Fellows. Designating the PI role in the eRA Commons for an individual does not bestow on them any special status. It is merely the name of the role within the electronic system that provides the administrative authority needed to see pertinent information regarding an application (e.g., summary statements, scores, electronic submission status, etc.).    See Guide Notice OD-07-003 for additional information on registering individual fellows in the eRA Commons.

Form Page 5, Item 27, Doctoral Dissertation and Other Research Experience
The instructions have been clarified for this section.  Unless otherwise instructed in a specific Funding Opportunity Announcement, applicants for early (pre-dissertation) Predoctoral and Senior Fellowships should omit their doctoral dissertation, but should include any other research experience, if applicable.  Advanced graduate students (ONLY) must also include a narrative of their doctoral dissertation (may be preliminary) and any other research experience under item 27.  The information is required of advanced graduate students who have successfully completed their comprehensive examinations or the equivalent by the time of award and will be performing dissertation research.

Checklist, Section I.D. Tuition and Fees
The instructions have been modified to reflect the new policy concerning reimbursement of tuition, fees and health insurance (See NOT-OD-06-093).

Publications in Appendix Material
As announced in NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-06-053, when publications are publicly available in on-line journals, applicants should provide links to the on-line journals in lieu of providing a paper copy of the publication.  This policy change applied to all applications, including individual fellowships.  The instructions have been revised to reflect this policy change.

Other minor editorial corrections have been made throughout the instructions. 

Inquiry

Questions concerning these changes should be directed to:

Division of Grants Policy
Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration
National Institutes of Health
6705 Rockledge Drive, Suite 350
Bethesda, MD 20892
Telephone: (301) 435-0938
FAX: (301) 435-3059
Email: [email protected]