NIH Policy for Review and Resubmission of New Investigator R01 Applications

Notice Number: NOT-OD-19-053

Key Dates
Release Date: January 7, 2019

Related Announcements

NOT-OD-17-101

NOT-OD-07-083 RESCINDED

NOT-OD-11-057 RESCINDED

NOT-OD-12-001 RESCINDED

NOT-OD-14-050 RESCINDED

Issued by
National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Purpose

Beginning in 2007 the NIH allowed New Investigators (NI) the option of submitting R01 A1 resubmission applications for consecutive review cycles ("next round resubmission"). Because it enabled NI to potentially resubmit applications more rapidly, the expectation was that the policy would accelerate funding for NI. However, this turned out to be incorrect. Utilization of the "next round resubmission" policy has been low since the beginning, and is declining: only 12% (2007-2011) and 8% (2012-2017) of eligible NIs use it. The average age of a first R01 award has not declined, nor has there been a significant change in time to award for eligible new investigators.

With the implementation of the Next Generation Researchers Initiative (NGRI; NOT-OD-17-101 ), NIH has prioritized funding of meritorious R01 applications, a strategy that is expected to reduce the number of resubmissions necessary to receive an award. NIH will continue to make a special accommodation for NI R01 applications, by retaining clustered review and preferential release of summary statements. However, the special NI deadline for next round resubmission of A1 R01 applications will be eliminated.

Policy

Starting with R01 applications submitted for due dates on or after January 25, 2019:

  • NI R01 applications will be reviewed on the same timeline as other applications submitted to the same FOA.
  • NI R01 applications will be clustered together for review within a meeting.
  • Summary statements for all NI R01 applications will be prioritized: to the extent possible, they will be released before summary statements for other applications reviewed in the same meeting.
  • In general, summary statements will be available no later than 30 days before council.
  • A1 resubmission of NI R01 applications will be accepted on the resubmission due date of any Program Announcement (PA, PAR, or PAS), both standard and special due dates, that accepts resubmission applications. See the NIH Resubmission Policy for requirements and instructions.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Division of Receipt and Referral
Center for Scientific Review
Telephone: 301-435-0715
Email: csrdrr@mail.nih.gov