Internal Deadline for Research Proposals

In a letter from the Chair, University Research Council (Bernard Maria, M.D.) to the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost (John R. Raymond, M.D.) dated March 29, 2005, Dr. Maria recommended the establishment of an internal deadline for submission of all grant applications.

This recommendation was accepted and published in a letter from the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost (John R. Raymond, M.D.) to All Department Chairs and Principal Investigators on April 13, 2005.

Documentation of Policy Change (PDF)

Policy

Effective immediately, completed applications for extramural support must be submitted to the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs three (3) working days prior to the agency deadline.  This internal deadline applies to all grants both electronic and paper.

Purpose

The purpose of this policy change is to allow adequate processing time and to identify any potential problems with the electronic submission. 

Rationale

The switch by many funding agencies from paper submissions to electronic submissions has created a bottleneck in the university submission process which could cause grant submissions to miss their electronic deadlines. Some MUSC grant applications have been rejected because of delays in submission or incomplete applications. MUSC is at a potential competitive disadvantage with institutions that enforce internal deadlines of 5 to 10 days.