No. 11: Can I Get Around the Research Plan Page Limit?

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Can I Get Around the Research Plan Page Limit?

Reader question: With the shortened NIH grant application, can I include information about the research plan/interventions in the human subjects section?

Expert Comments:

No. Reviewers consider that circumventing the page limits, and they will flag it. You must keep all information related to your research plan within the 12 pages allotted for the Research Strategy section.

In fact, NIH specifically states that you cannot include information on the research plan or interventions in the Human Subjects or the Vertebrate Animals sections of a grant application.

Right after NIH moved to the short format, some investigators included research plan information in inappropriate sections, and it caused an uproar. In fact, two investigators did it in the first round, and reviewers gave them a warning and told them to reformat their applications.

Expert comment by Eric Blalock, PhD, assistant professor in the College of Medicine at the University of Kentucky.

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Comments (2)

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written by DocHoliday, June 01, 2011

So does this mean you can't reference your research plan anywhere else in your application? Seems impossible.

Research Administrator
written by CardRes, June 02, 2011

I believe the original questioner wanted to get around page limitations by using the Human Subject section to continue expounding his research plan. Referencing your research plan is not a problem; using other sections to expand on the plan is the problem. NIH is aware of this and is coming down hard on those whom they perceive as violating the page limits.

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