New limits apply to appendix materials for all NIH/AHRQ/NIOSH/CDC grants

New limits apply to appendix materials for all NIH/AHRQ/NIOSH/CDC grants

Effective January 3, 2007, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHQ), and National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (NIOSH/CDC) will implement a policy change limiting appendix materials that may be submitted with grant applications. The aim is to encourage applications to be as concise as possible while containing the information needed for expert scientific review. These changes take advantage of electronic access to many publications and should make application preparation and handling easier for both applicants and reviewers. As always, the Appendix may not be used to circumvent the page limitations of the Research Plan.

The following changes apply to applications in response to any funding opportunity announcement (FOA) with submission/receipt dates on or after January 3, 2007.

Information that May Be Included in the Application

Published manuscripts and/or abstracts that are publicly available in a free, online format may be referenced in the application. These publications may not be included in the appendix. URLs or NIH PubMed Central (PMC) submission identification numbers may be included along with the full reference in the Bibliography and References Cited section (SF 424RR) or Literature Cited section (PHS 398), the Progress Report Publication List section, and/or the Biographical Sketch section. While there is no limit to the number of URLs or PMC submission identification numbers that can be cited, applicants should be both judicious and concise.
Applications submitted electronically on the SF424 (R&R) forms may include graphic images of gels, micrographs, photographs, etc., in the Research Plan PDF. However these images may not be included in the Appendix (except when part of a qualifying publication). The SF 424 (R&R) Application Guide provides guidance as to size and resolution of images.

Materials Allowed in the Appendix
Publications—Applicants may submit up to 3 of the following types of publications. Any exceptions will be noted in specific FOAs.

Manuscripts and/or abstracts accepted for publication but not yet published.
Published manuscripts and/or abstracts only when a free, online, publicly available journal link is not available.
Patents materials directly relevant to the project.

Other

Surveys, questionnaires, data collection instruments, clinical protocols, and informed consent documents may be submitted in the Appendix as necessary.
Paper PHS398 applications only may include full-sized glossy photographs of material such as electron micrographs or gels in the Appendix; however, an image of each (possibly reduced in size but readily legible) must also be included within the page limitations of the Research Plan.

Format of Appendix Materials

For electronic submission using the SF 424 (R&R) forms and Grants.gov, Appendix materials must be submitted in PDF format.
For paper submission using the PHS 398, Appendix materials may be submitted in paper format; five collated sets are needed.
Applicants are encouraged to send Appendix materials submitted with paper PHS 398 applications on a CD in PDF format in lieu of the five collated sets. See application instructions for details on preparing CDs. Only a single CD need be sent.
For materials that cannot be submitted electronically or materials that cannot be converted to PDF format; (e.g., medical devices, prototypes, DVDs, CDs), applicants should contact the Scientific Review Administrator for instructions following notification of assignment of the application to a study section. If the SRA is listed in the FOA, they should be contacted in advance to address acceptability of materials.

Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) Details

Any FOAs that currently disallow publications in the Appendix will continue to do so.
FOAs currently allowing more than three publications will only allow three for receipt dates on or after January 3.
FOAs allowing fewer than three publications will now allow three.
In the case of multi-project applications up to three publications will be allowed for each project.
FOAs may have additional appendix requirements specified other than publications. In these cases, follow the FOA instructions, which prevail.

Inquiries should be directed to: Grants Info Office of Extramural Research National Institutes of Health Phone: 301-435-0714 TTY: 301-451-0088 Email: grantsinfo@nih.gov

Source: NIH Guide to Grants and Contracts, Notice Number NOT-OD-07-018, Released November 17, 2006 – http://grants2.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-07-018.html