Reading Between the Lines of Your Summary Statement

Abstract

The summary statement, which is sent to each applicant after the initial phase of the NIH grant review process, indicates how the proposal faired as a result of the discussions and voting by the Scientific Review Group (SRG) (formerly known as an Initial Review Group (IRG) or Study Section). Read by an informed applicant, the summary statement is not only a description of the current evaluation of scientific merit, but provides information on whether your proposal is likely to be funded or whether a revised applications may need to be submitted. In this section, the summary statement (sometimes called the “pink sheet” because it was formerly printed on pink paper) will be described. More importantly, there will be suggestions on how to interpret its meaning and how to improve the chances of success for your revised grant proposal.

Director and The Carman and Ann Adams Endowed Chair in Pediatric Research, Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Detroit Medical Center, Detroit, MI, USA