Is Centralizing NIH Peer Review a Good Idea? You Decide.

In the April issue of Gerontology News, GSA Visiting Scholar Robin Barr provides analysis of the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) announced intention to centralize all initial peer review within its Center for Scientific Review (CSR).

This would affect the first stage of the review process for many grants, cooperative agreements, and research and development contracts which currently go through initial review in study sections at the NIH’s 23 institutes and centers (ICs), including the National Institute on Aging.  Many GSA members have participated in study sections and can appreciate how important this process is for evaluating new innovative research proposals.

This proposed change, announced on March 6, has raised concern in the research community. As Robin stated, “Review officers in the ICs are well-briefed on both mission and plan. They use that knowledge when searching for reviewers and structuring a panel. Knowledge is lost when review is conducted independent of the IC. Mission focus is eroded. It becomes harder for institutes to honor their missions. Centralizing peer review then weakens NIH as a society of institutes pursuing related missions on improving health and well-being. It assumes uniformity when different IC missions signal different goals. It does not serve the ICs well.”

The language in NIH’s proposal indicates the agency wants to take this step to save costs and improve quality of review, when it may do neither. Worse, it may undermine the funding of new groundbreaking research being proposed by researchers across all ICs.

I encourage you to study the issue and make your own decision regarding the merits of centralizing all initial peer review within CSR.

The NIH announcement states that this proposal still must go through review by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of Management and Budget, and NIH must provide Congress with a 15-day notification period and issue a Federal Register notice.

We will use GSA platforms such as GSA Announcements and GSA Connect to keep members informed about the forthcoming opportunities to weigh in on this matter, including commenting on items posted to the Federal Register and reaching out to members of Congress.