Our Continued Commitment to Integrity and Fairness in Peer Review: Key NIH Reporting Channels to Know

Peer review remains central to NIH’s goal of supporting the highest quality science. As efforts continue to strengthen peer review through the centralization of review operations, reviewer training, and the standardization of practices, NIH remains committed to integrity and fairness in peer review, as well as to transparency and listening to the research community.

NIH’s broader Gold Standard Science framework identifies unbiased peer review as a core scientific tenet, emphasizing the fair, transparent, impartial, and expert evaluation of research ideas. The framework also underscores that NIH maintains procedures to address allegations of biased review and other integrity concerns, highlighting peer review as essential to sustaining public trust in the biomedical research enterprise.

Applicants, reviewers, researchers, and other members of the research community who have concerns about unfair peer review at NIH or potential review integrity concerns—such as confidentiality breaches or other inappropriate conduct—can report their concerns through the following mechanisms.

Report Concerns About Unfair Review

• Send a message to [email protected] if you believe a review may not have been fair, impartial, or consistent with NIH review standards, including concerns about potential bias, inequitable treatment, or other fairness-related issues. Your concerns will be sent to leadership at the NIH Center for Scientific Review.

Report Review Integrity Concerns

• Contact Research/Review Integrity Officers (RIOs) at [email protected] or [email protected] if you suspect research misconduct or a potential breach of review integrity, such as confidentiality violations, review tampering, undisclosed conflicts of interest, or other actions that may compromise the integrity of the peer review process. 

Additional information is available on the Integrity & Fairness in Review webpage, including NIH peer review values, reviewer responsibilities, confidentiality protections, and other safeguards. The page also highlights the NIH Review Integrity Training, which has been required for all NIH reviewers since 2024, as reported in NOT-OD-23-156.

These resources reflect NIH's ongoing commitment to fair, independent, and expert peer review that is free from inappropriate influences. NIH encourages individuals to raise concerns when they believe fairness or integrity may have been compromised.