From OER Nexus: What’s Next?—Reviewing Your Summary Statement and Thinking About Resubmitting

So you’re wearing your lucky shoes and are ready to take a first look at the results of your grant review. Whether you are anticipating doing a victory dance or getting ready to head out to the nearest kickboxing class, it’s a good time to think about what comes next.

Some of you have noticed that the summary statements now include a link to a new online resource to address just this question. Especially if you are new to NIH funding, I encourage you to check out this “Next Steps” page, which was put together to help NIH grant applicants with the “What’s next?” questions following receipt of the summary statement.

If you aren't in the position to be preparing Just-in-Time information for an award, but instead are considering resubmission, you may want to consider some of the data that have appeared in my previous blog posts, in addition to the resources available on grants.nih.gov. For example, in the post “Correlation Between Overall Impact Scores and Criterion Scores”, I show how approach, innovation, and significance factor heavily into the overall impact scores. As you look at your summary statement, talk to your NIH program official, and discuss your ideas with colleagues, it might be useful to keep this in mind.

Additionally our podcast series, All About Grants, includes conversations with NIH staff to help you understand how your grant is reviewed, such as these two episodes on summary statement basics and resubmission advice.

Whether you’re new to the grant application process or an experienced applicant, we hope you find these resources useful.

From GRC: NIH Launches New Tool for PIs to Evaluate Prospects

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has recently introduced LikeThis, a new search tool to help principal investigators identify other research projects that have similar goals and objectives as their own. By entering specific search terms or clicking on the “LikeThis” link on their own application or award pages in the Commons, investigators will gain access to awards, publications, and potential partners to help them develop more successful future proposals.

LikeThis is expected to be used in several ways: to identify the likely institute or center to contact as the application progresses and to list as a preference in the cover letter; to formulate new ideas for research based on what NIH has awarded in the past; and to determine whether a research idea really is innovative. The tool is currently available only to principal investigators. Following eRA’s July 19-20, 2012 software release, LikeThis will be made available to signing officials and others with eRA roles such as trainees, postdoctoral researchers, and assistants. In the meantime, see the user guide and frequently-asked questions for more information.