What Influences NIH Success Rates?
In an era of flat NIH budgets, it’s natural to be concerned about your chances of getting a research grant, especially if you’re wondering where NIH is focusing its research dollars. At NIAID’s May Council, NIH Director Dr. Zerhouni gave an illustrated presentation, NIH at the Crossroads: Myths, Realities, and Strategies for the Future. Here are some highlights. Unless otherwise indicated, all these figures and data are for research project grants and applications. Factors affecting application success rates So far, success rates appear to be decreasing for fiscal year 2006. Though some worry that solicited research initiatives such as the NIH Roadmap requests for applications are causing the decline, that’s not the case. Three main factors cause lower success rates: flat budgets, rising costs for existing grants, and the rising number of grant applications. The NIH budget doubled from FY 1999 to FY 2003, so success rates for NIH research project grants rose even though we had more inc
