NOT-OD-14-074 – NIH and AHRQ Announce Updated Policy for Application Submission

Dear Colleagues:

NIH and AHRQ  have announced a change in policy on application submissions.  Please read, and redistribute broadly to relevant faculty and researchers in your area.

Thank you!

Greg Ruth
Communications Manager
Office of Research

Dear Colleagues,

FYI: NOT-OD-14-074 – NIH and AHRQ Announce Updated Policy for Application Submission

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) announce a change in policy on application submissions. Effective immediately, for application due dates after April 16, 2014, following an unsuccessful resubmission (A1) application, applicants may submit the same idea as a new (A0) application for the next appropriate due date. The NIH and AHRQ will not assess the similarity of the science in the new (A0) application to any previously reviewed submission when accepting an application for review. Although a new (A0) application does not allow an introduction or responses to the previous reviews, the NIH and AHRQ encourage applicants to refine and strengthen all application submissions.

NIH’s policy for accepting overlapping applications remains in effect (see NOT-OD-09-100). The NIH will not accept duplicate or highly overlapping applications under review at the same time. This means that the NIH will not accept:

• A new (A0) application that is submitted before issuance of the summary statement from the review of an overlapping resubmission (A1) application.
• A resubmission (A1) application that is submitted before issuance of the summary statement from the review of the previous new (A0) application.
• An application that has substantial overlap with another application pending appeal of initial peer review (see NOT-OD-11-101).

The NIH time limit for accepting resubmission (A1) applications remains in effect (see NOT-OD-12-128 and NOT-OD-10-140). The NIH will not accept a resubmission (A1) application that is submitted later than 37 months after submission of the new (A0) application that it follows.

New Investigators who wish to submit a new (A0) R01 application following an unsuccessful resubmission application must use the standard due dates, regardless of the previous submission history for that project, unless they are eligible for Continuous Submission (see NOT-OD-14-028).

Background: During the Enhancing Peer Review initiative, the NIH and AHRQ reduced the number of allowable resubmission applications from two to one (NOT-OD-09-003; NOT-HS-10-002), and stipulated that any subsequent submission for that project must demonstrate significant changes in scientific direction compared to the previous submissions. Those policies were implemented to address the growing trend for resubmission applications to be scored more favorably, which in essence created a queue for meritorious applications before success in funding.  In this extended period of tight funding, this approach resulted in many meritorious research applications being deemed ineligible for additional submissions, and many investigators having to propose substantial changes to productive research programs. New Investigators may have been significantly affected because new research directions may be quite difficult during this phase in their careers.

Thank you,

Jeff Warner

Research Policy Analyst
Research Policy Analysis and Coordination
University of California, Office of the President