Reviewer Guidance

What's Changing

The simplified review framework retains the five regulatory criteria (Significance, Investigators, Innovation, Approach, Environment) but reorganizes them into three factors — two will receive numerical criterion scores and one will be evaluated for sufficiency. All three factors will be considered in arriving at the Overall Impact score, along with the Additional Review Criteria. Furthermore, the review of some Additional Review Considerations (Applications from Foreign Organizations, Select Agents, and Resource Sharing Plans) is being shifted from reviewers to NIH staff. See this page for more information about how the review process is changing.

Resources for Reviewers

The following materials are available to help explain how applications will be reviewed under the simplified review framework.

• Video Introduction to the Simplified Review Framework – (March 14, 2025)

This video walks reviewers through the evaluation and scoring of applications under the simplified review framework.

• Reviewer Guide to Evaluating Applications – (March 14, 2025)

This document provides guidance on evaluating and scoring applications under the simplified review framework.

• Scoring Guidance – (March 14, 2025)

This document provides an overview of the approach to scoring under the simplified review framework, with accompanying examples.

• Reviewer Training Slides – (April 2, 2025)

This slide deck provides training on reviewing and scoring applications under the simplified review framework. It is designed to be used by scientific review officers (SROs) to lead orientation sessions for reviewers in their scientific review group.

• Consolidated List of Reviewer Documents

This page provides guidance for reviewers on the assessment of specific review elements as well as review meeting associated tasks.