The decision to fund or not to fund a particular application is based on the assessment of scientific merit by a peer review group and on the relevance of the proposed work to the institute’s scientific and health priorities.
Scientific Merit
Peer reviewers’ judgments of scientific merit are expressed in priority scores, and some applications receive a percentile ranking derived from these priority scores. The percentile through which applications will be paid in order is what is referred to as the Institute's payline.
Relevance to Institute Priorities
Applications that address topics of relevance to the institute’s scientific and health priorities may be considered for awards even if their assigned scores and percentile rankings would not qualify for funding under the current payline. Projects to be funded on this basis, which is called “select pay,” are selected by the institute, following staff discussion. Investigators may not request or apply for select pay funding. See the NIAMS Funding Plan for more information.
Rarely, NIAMS receives an application that is within the institute’s payline but is deemed to be of low program priority. An application can be considered low priority for many reasons, including (but not limited to) redundancy with other projects, concerns about the ultimate relevance of the proposed study’s results, or a lack of scientific premise.
NIAMS Research Priority Resources
The NIAMS Strategic Plan Fiscal Years 2020-2024 provides a broad outline of opportunities and needs related to the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, and ultimately, prevention of diseases within the institute's mission areas. Members of both the scientific and lay communities interested in NIAMS’ programs provided extensive input as the plan was developed. The 2025-2029 NIAMS Strategic Plan is currently in development and will reflect similar engagement with the community.
Institute funding priorities reflect highly meritorious research as determined by the peer review process, public health needs, scientific opportunities, and Congressional and Administration mandates, among other factors. For grants, the principal public expressions of institute priorities are Requests for Applications (RFAs), Notices of Special Interest (NOSIs), or Notices of Information (NOTs), as published in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts. Applications received in response to an RFA generally compete only with other applications received in response to the RFA. Applications received in response to other announcements compete with all other scored applications assigned to the institute. However, applications that are responsive to institute priorities as published in the NIH Guide or the NIAMS Strategic Plan are candidates for select pay, as described above.
Other Information Related to the NIAMS Grants Funding Process
What is the “payline”?
During the scientific review process, each application receives a priority score, and some applications receive a percentile ranking. The payline is the priority score or percentile through which almost all applications will be paid. For example, the R01 payline for fiscal year 2024 is the 8th percentile, meaning that almost all applications that received a percentile of 1 through 8 will be funded.
Why is NIAMS changing its funding approach?
In recent years, the institute budget has not kept pace with inflation and the cost of doing research has increased. The result: the institute’s payline has become tighter. We previously were able to fund a broader array of applications. Now, however, with a lower payline resulting in fewer awards, we need more flexibility to ensure we fund the diverse areas of science in our mission, preserve the research workforce, and meet the institute’s priorities.
Setting a lower payline allows NIAMS more flexibility to fully use the expertise of our program officers to inform institute decisions and fund grants across the NIAMS portfolio. This new approach will ensure that NIAMS is able to fund highly meritorious applications that are deemed of high priority to the NIAMS mission. As a responsible steward of taxpayer money, NIAMS’ goal will continue to be getting the best return on investment when deciding which awards to fund.
What is “select pay”?
To allow for flexibility in funding, NIAMS has always devoted resources to support applications that have scored beyond the payline. With these funds, NIAMS program officers (POs), working in teams, review and recommend applications to senior staff that may have fallen outside of the payline for potential funding. Investigators cannot apply for select pay.
How does the institute decide which applications to fund using the “select pay” process?
In addition to the score, key considerations taken into account include the following:
- Ensuring a stable and broad scientific workforce;
- Balance in the institute portfolio, approaches, and investigators;
- If the application reflects institute priorities, as articulated in our strategic plan and NOSIs; and
- The amount of other research funding the PI has available.
How will this funding change affect the number of applications that NIAMS funds?
While the payline might be lower, NIAMS plans to fund approximately the same number of research applications as in recent years. Similarly, the success rate should remain relatively stable with the new funding approach, which was about 17% in fiscal year 2023. Importantly, while this change shifts the percentage of applications funded based on the payline versus select pay (see graph below) the total number of funded research awards will remain relatively consistent.
