NIH Paylines & Resources

Rather than keep adding posts to the blog about NIH paylines, I’ll update this page as ICs revise their funding strategies; I’ve also included links to “cleared concepts” (i.e., potential funding initiatives approved by the IC’s Advisory Council for future development into PAs or RFAs). Those ICs that traditionally do not publish payline or percentile guidance are indicated by “no payline data available” (& none probably ever will be). Last updated: 16 June 2008 (FY08 updates for all ICs now up … of course, submissions from here on generally fall under FY09 guidelines).

NIH Institutes & Centers
(descending order of budget, percentiles for established/new PIs)

NCI ($4.8B): FY08 payline at 14th percentile for standard & large (>$700K) R01s, 14th for R21s, priority score 210 for R03s, priority score 155 for R33s [updated numbers based on Feb 5 Council meeting] NCI cleared concepts

NIAID ($4.3B): FY08 payline at 12/14th percentiles, FY08 priority score at 150 for both R03 & R21; 150 for F31 (minority/disability fellowships); 140 for F32; 160 for K except K99; 148 for STTR R41/R42; 215 for SBIR R43/R44; 137 for T32; 156 for R15 (AREA) NIAID cleared concepts

NHLBI ($2.9B): FY08 payline at 14th percentile for R01/R21 established investigators; 19th percentile for new investigator R01s (Type 1 & Type 2); 24th percentile for new investigator R01s “if expedited administrative review resolves summary statement comments”; 160 priority score for K & T applications … follow link for other scores & details

NIGMS ($1.9B): no payline data available (target FY08 success rate is 22%, down from ~32% in FY07)

NIDDK ($1.8B): FY08 “nominal” payline of 17th/19th percentiles (please take note of the NIDDK-specific guidance for planning/developing R21 applications) NIDDK cleared concepts

NINDS ($1.5B): FY08 payline at 10th percentile (unspecified higher percentiles for new investigator & high-priority applications, up to 20th percentile for RFA/PAS applications, overall 18% success rate targeted)

NIMH ($1.4B): FY08 payline up to 20th percentile, program discretion (see main link for details on research funding priorities; training funding priorities here) NIMH cleared concepts

NICHD ($1.2B): FY08 gives new investigators a 5-percentile break, with special consideration to new investigator research grant applications from NICHD K awardees (no base payline provided)

NCRR ($1.1B): no payline data available (FY08 funding policy up)

NIA ($1.0B): FY08 payline at “about” the 13/18th percentiles

NIDA ($1.0B): no payline data available (FY08 funding policy up)

NIEHS ($720M): no payline data available (FY08 funding policy up)

NEI ($667M): no payline data available, though they will “be cautious in making competitive awards” (FY08 funding policy up)

NIAMS ($517M): FY08 payline at 13.5/16.5th percentiles (13.5th for R21, priority score < 160/R03, 126/T32, 138/K99, 153/K23-K24, 140/other Ks, 160/Fs, 200/SBIR)

NHGRI ($495M): No FY08 payline, but “Innovation, priority score, timeliness of the project, program priorities, and whether the applicant is a new or a first-time competing renewal investigator will be major considerations in funding applications that are taken out of priority score order” (most competing projects funded for 3 years, new investigators funded at higher priority scores)

NIAAA ($444M): no payline data available, though “new Investigators just beyond the NIAAA nominal payline are invited to submit a letter to respond to the summary statement critique” & the estimated success rate is 25% (FY08 funding policy up)

NIDCD ($401M): “Percentiled R01 applications will be supported based on a case-by-case review of grant applications by program directors” (FY08 funding policy up)

NIDCR ($396M): no payline data available (target FY08 success rate is 18%) NIDCR cleared concepts

NLM ($326M): FY08 priority scores below 150 most likely to be funded (150-170 could be funded)

NIBIB ($303M): FY08 payline at 16th/21st percentiles (16th percentile for R21; R03 & R15 priority score below 165; total of 5 K99/R00 awards to be made)

NCMHD ($203M): no payline data available (traditionally no funding policy is posted for this Center)

NINR ($139M): “Council and program staff may selectively recommend the payment of grants out of priority score order based on Institute mission and priorities and to maintain a diverse and balanced portfolio” (estimated success rate of 18%, but no payline/priority score guidance provided - FY08 funding strategy up)

NCCAM ($123M): FY08 payline at 15th percentile/<175 priority score or better (R21 at priority score of 155 or better) NCCAM cleared concepts

FIC ($67M - but only $9.4M for new awards in FY08): no payline data available (FY08 success rate est at 10-15%)

Other Resources

NIH Advisory Council Meeting Dates (all ICs)
NIH Funding Strategies
NIH Paylines & Percentiles explained
NIH Success Rates
NIH Award Data
NIH Budget Allocation by Disease/Disorder

NIH FY08 Fiscal Policy (grim news)

Einstein School of Medicine (excellent resource)

10 Comments »

  1. Jatinder Lamba said,

    January 29, 2008 @ 5:45 pm

    when will NCI annouce their FY08 paylines for regular and star R01s

    See update above … 14th/19th percentiles for established/new PI R01s (type 1 & type 2). - writedit

  2. Councils Clearing Concepts « Medical Writing, Editing & Grantsmanship said,

    February 4, 2008 @ 1:18 pm

    [...] in my spare time (tee-hee-hee), I’ll create a dynamic resource page similar to the one for Paylines that provides links to the various IC cleared concept clearinghouses. Or maybe I’ll just add [...]

  3. RGP said,

    February 4, 2008 @ 5:01 pm

    NIA has posted their payline — 18th percentile for New Investigators and 13th percentile for seasoned brave souls:

    http://www.nia.nih.gov/GrantsAndTraining/Policies/Funding_Policy_current.htm

    Years won’t be cut but app. 18% will be lopped off the top. I’m ok with that — I think I’d rather have the full five years.

    Payline is established but I wonder how long my grant will sit in the ERA Commons with the note: “To Be Paid”. I am so happy about the “To Be Paid” rather than “Pending” but it would be nice to for the NOA to come though….*sigh*

    Thanks for lending a hand here, RGP!! I like the use of the qualifier “about”. I’ll run down the entire list for updates at COB on Feb 6. - writedit

  4. Vassiliki Karantza-Wadsworth said,

    February 14, 2008 @ 6:06 pm

    Your site is very informative!

    Could you please let me know as soon as you have the information what the funding cut-off will be for NCI’s Howard Temin Pathway to Independence Award for the applications that were submitted last June?

    Thank you,
    Vassiliki

  5. Payline Update - NIAID T32 update « Medical Writing, Editing & Grantsmanship said,

    March 6, 2008 @ 7:05 pm

    [...] 17, 2007 at 3:07 pm · Filed under Payline Update: Please see the NIH Paylines & Resources page for the latest [...]

  6. How to Prevent Grant Funding « Medical Writing, Editing & Grantsmanship said,

    April 2, 2008 @ 12:55 am

    [...] April 2, 2008 at 12:55 am · Filed under Biomedical Writing/Editing, Grantsmanship, NIH Advice Okay … a little help here, and this is no April Fool’s. I need to come up with 45 min worth of what not to do if you want to get funded. I could come up with dozens and dozens of bullets like this, and I have priceless gems from actual narratives that I couldn’t possibly make up if I tried. But I really am interested in what fatal flaws crop up in the routine grant-writing life of a reagent-quality scientist. When I’m all done in a few weeks, I promise to slap it up as a resource page (like NIH Paylines & Resources). [...]

  7. A random scientist said,

    June 10, 2008 @ 11:40 pm

    Is there a discrepancy in the NCI paylines for 2008? the website you mention here says 14/19 and then there is a news circulating at :

    http://www.cancerletter.com/tcl-blog/copy38_of_whats-going-on-with-nih

    Any thoughts on this? I am assuming that what is on NCI website is more accurate, but just wanted to see whats happening.

    Thanks!

    Hmmm. I’m loathe to change my figure above, which is based on the publicly available information at NCI. I even more loathe to pay $75 for a one-day pass to read the rest of that article. Looking at the NCI Director’s Report from the Feb 5 Council meeting, however, it seems that the standard R01 percentile is at 12.0, with the large award R01s (>$700K) at 14.0. Or at least they were for the first 2 cycles. Now, looking at Dr. Neiderhuber’s slide notes, I can see the percentile for R21s is 14.0 and the priority scores are set at 210 (?!!?) for R03s and 155 for R33s. Who knew R03s were so easy here? There is also an asterisked “R01s: 19th percentile (will hit NIH target)”, which could be intended for new investigators, but I don’t want to call it that without clarification. Thanks for the heads-up, Random Scientist! I’ve corrected the figures above. - writedit

  8. A random scientist said,

    June 11, 2008 @ 12:13 am

    See I am not sure either — the council says one thing but the publicly available website says another — plus what does large grants mean? 700K per year?

    These would essentially be clinical studies (not necessarily clinical trials, but any research involving human subjects involves a lot more personnel and expense). - writedit

  9. A random scientist said,

    June 11, 2008 @ 12:21 am

    Just to add to the confusion I have already created, the following website is apparently for spring 2008 - from NCI — and I feel was updated sometime this spring (maybe after the NCI director’s comments) — it says 14 percent as well?!?!?

    http://www.cancer.gov/cam/newsletter/2008-spring/5.html

    Well, this looks to be a generic comment (& yes, paylines are moving targets, especially with all the program latitude) and clearly harkens back to what is on the main NCI funding strategy Website. Of course, grants submitted in Feb/March and being reviewed now will be funded according to the FY09 paylines, which won’t be decided until next March at least … maybe not until next summer (elections, inauguration, etc. = lots of continuing resolutions). I’d say anything in the 12-14th percentile is in the gray zone at best. Funding at the 12th percentile is actually not that bad compared with other ICs. - writedit

  10. A random scientist said,

    June 11, 2008 @ 1:22 pm

    So I called up NCI today — and they said that it is 14.0 percent and the director made an error in stating its 12%.

    As you may have guessed, the reason I am really interested in this is because my score falls between 12-14% :) with the budget council meeting next week deciding on the fate of the grant — but while yesterday was a tough day, I was reassured by NCI today that it is indeed 14%, so I should be fine.

    Okee-dokee … correction noted above. See what a motivated PI can learn, folks? Thanks & congratulations, random scientist. - writedit

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