WIKIMEDIA, VIA FLICKR: PEN WAGGENERCurrently researchers seeking funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) can resubmit their grant proposals only once after they have been rejected. But that may soon change. In December, the advisory council for NIH's Center for Scientific Review (CSR) floated a plan to let investigators resubmit unsuccessful grant proposals as many times as they want, with reviewers considering them anew each time.
“The CSR council suggested a pilot study in which investigators would be allowed an unlimited number of resubmissions but no more than two applications over 12 months,” according to ScienceInsider.
The idea is not a new one. It was originally proposed in 2008, when an internal NIH report suggested ending the system that allowed researchers to resubmit their grant applications just twice after initial rejection. Instead, the NIH reduced the number of permitted resubmissions to one. Now, as the success rate for NIH proposals hangs at a dismal 18 percent, the agency is looking for a way to reinvigorate the peer-review process.
