NIH: Well-funded applicants to face higher scrutiny

NIH is implementing a new policy to give extra scrutiny to grant applications from researchers who already receive $1 million or more per year under active NIH awards. The policy will start with the next round of application review meetings in September and will affect about 89 applications, according to the agency. In assessing applications under the policy, reviewers will be instructed to choose those that are "both highly promising and distinct" from a researcher's other projects. NIH did say that some types of research will require higher levels of funding, such as clinical trials.

Applications excluded from the extra scrutiny include those in response to requests for applications (RFAs); those for multi-component and multiple investigator grants, unless all the investigators exceed the $1 million threshold; and those for subprojects within complex applications. ...