AHCPR News and Notes

Research grant applicants may "self-assign" to review groups

Did you know that you can "self-assign" your investigator-initiated research grant application to the initial review group or study section that you believe is best suited to review your application? To do this, you need to include a cover letter detailing your request with your application. Such a request generally determines where the application will be assigned for review. Self-assignment is possible for new, amended, and competing continuation applications submitted on the PHS 398 form to the Center for Scientific Review at the National Institutes of Health, where AHCPR research grant applications are received.

In your cover letter, you also may request funding consideration at either the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research or at a particular NIH component. Even if you are requesting assignment to an NIH Institute, you still may ask that your application be reviewed by an AHCPR study section if you believe that is where the most appropriate review expertise is to be found.

When you self-assign your application to AHCPR, you may choose one of the following four AHCPR study sections: Health Care Quality and Effectiveness Research (HQER), Health Research Dissemination and Implementation (HRDI), Health Systems Research (HSR), or Health Care Technology and Decision Sciences (HTDS).

AHCPR recently added a fifth study section to evaluate research training applications. However, you cannot self-assign to this study section since assignments are made only in response to specific research training program initiatives.

For more information about these study sections, select the peer review update. For more complete information, select Funding Opportunities. Please direct any questions or comments about the self-assignment process to Pat Thompson, Ph.D., AHCPR's referral officer, at (301) 427-1556.

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