Key Dates

Related Announcements

December 10, 2024 - Reminder of Updates to NIH Training Grant Application Data Tables for Application Due Dates on or After January 25, 2025. See Notice NOT-OD-25-044.

November 14, 2024 - Reminder: FORMS-I Grant Application Forms and Instructions Must be Used for Due Dates On or After January 25, 2025. See Notice NOT-OD-25-026

July 31, 2024 - NIH’s Adoption of Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support by May 25, 2025. See Notice NOT-OD-24-163

May 31, 2024 -Updates to NIH Institutional Training Grant Applications for Due Dates on or After January 25, 2025. See Notice NOT-OD-24-129

April 18, 2024 - Implementation of Revisions to the NIH and AHRQ Fellowship Application and Review Process. See Notice NOT-OD-24-107

April 4, 2024 - New NIH "FORMS-I" Grant Application Forms and Instructions Coming for Due Dates on or after January 25, 2025. See Notice NOT-OD-24-086.

April 4, 2024 - Simplified Review Framework for NIH Research Project Grant Applications - Update and Implementation Plans. See Notice NOT-OD-24-085. 

April 4, 2024 - Overview of Grant Application and Review Changes for Due Dates on or after January 25, 2025. See Notice NOT-OD-24-084.

October 19, 2023 - Online Briefing on NIH’s Simplified Peer Review Framework for NIH Research Project Grant (RPG) Applications: for Applicants and Reviewers. See Notice NOT-OD-24-012 

October 19, 2023 - Simplified Review Framework for NIH Research Project Grant Applications. See Notice NOT-OD-24-010.  

April 24, 2023 - Request for Information (RFI) on Recommendations for Improving NRSA Fellowship Review. See Notice NOT-OD-23-110

December 8, 2022 - Request for Information (RFI) on Proposed Simplified Review Framework for NIH Research Project Grant Applications. See Notice NOT-OD-23-034 

Issued by

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (NIH)

Purpose

This notice serves as a reminder to the research and research training community of multiple changes affecting application and peer review processes impacting grant applications submitted for due dates on or after January 25, 2025, and on or after May 25, 2025.

Required for due dates on or after January 25, 2025

• Simplified Review Framework for Most Research Project Grant Applications – To better focus reviewers on key questions necessary to assess the technical merit of proposed projects, NIH is reorganizing the five regulatory criteria (Significance, Investigators, Innovation, Approach, Environment) into three factors — two will receive numerical scores and one will be evaluated for sufficiency. These changes impact how an application is reviewed; they do not change how the application is developed.  
• Revisions to the NIH Fellowship Application and Review Process - To increase the likelihood that the most promising fellowship candidates will be consistently identified by scientific review panels, NIH is revising the fellowship review criteria used to evaluate fellowship applications and modifying the PHS Fellowship Supplemental Form to align with the restructured review criteria. These changes will impact both the development and review of fellowship applications.
• Updates to Institutional Training Grant Applications  -  To further support the development of a biomedical research workforce that will benefit from the full range of perspectives, experiences and backgrounds needed to advance discovery, and to reduce reviewer burden, NIH is making changes to National Research Service Award (NRSA) Training Program applications. These changes impact the PHS 398 Research Training Program Plan Form and the Training Data Tables and primarily affect how the application is developed.  
• Updates to Reference Letter Instructions for Referees - To provide more structure so letters will better assist reviewers in understanding the candidate’s strengths, weaknesses, and potential to pursue a productive career in biomedical science, NIH is updating the instructions for reference letters. 
• Updated Application Forms (FORMS-I) - NIH is updating application forms to provide the needed form fields to efficiently implement policy updates identified in this Notice and better align form instructions and field labels with current terminology (e.g., “grantee” to “recipient”).

Required for due dates on or after May 25, 2025

• Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support – To provide clarity regarding disclosure requirements and greater standardization across research agencies, NIH is adopting the Biographical Sketch Common Form and the Current and Pending (Other) Support Common Form for application due dates and progress report submissions on or after May 25, 2025.  
  • NIH will implement the Common Forms without change to any collection fields. However, in accordance with NIH’s Peer Review Regulations at 42 Code of Federal Regulations Part 52h, NIH plans to continue collecting three required agency specific data elements (i.e., Personal Statement, Contributions to Science, and Honors) separately on a new NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement.  
  • Applicants/Recipients are encouraged to start preparing for this change by becoming familiar with SciENcv and establishing ORCID IDs and linking them to the eRA Commons profiles of individuals required to submit a Biographical Sketch as this will be required once the Common Forms go into effect.

Although each of these initiatives has specific goals, they are all meant to simplify, clarify, and/or promote greater fairness towards a level playing field for applicants throughout the application and review processes. 

Resources

• Changes Coming to NIH Applications and Peer Review in 2025 web page
• Video Overview of Grant Application and Review Changes for Due Dates on or after January 25, 2025
• How to Apply - Application Guide
• Annotated Form Sets
• FORMS-I Training Data Tables 

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

NIH Office of Extramural Research

[email protected]