RPG Success Rates and Payline

Payline vs Success Rate

The graph below shows the NINDS success rate for research project grants (RPGs).  In FY2020, NINDS anticipates a success rate of approximately 23% (including applications / awards submitted to the BRAIN and HEAL Initiatives).  In contrast, a payline is a funding cutoff that is used to fund percentiled, unsolicited applications (R01, R03, R15, R21).  At NINDS, a payline is established for the Fiscal Year, and applications within these paylines will be funded with rare, NANDS Council-approved exceptions.  In FY2020, the payline has been set at the 16th percentile. Please note that success rates are typically higher than paylines and are a better indicator than paylines of the percentage of applications we are funding. Please read this post to understand the difference between paylines and success rates.