Glossary

2 A B C D E F G H I K M N O P R S T U X

N

NICHD

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

NIDA

NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse

NIDCD

NIH National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

NIDCR

NIH National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research

NIDDK

NIH National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

NIEHS

NIH National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

NIGMS

NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences

NIH

National Institutes of Health - A Federal agency whose mission is to improve the health of the people of the United States. NIH is a part of the Public Health Service, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts

The official publication for NIH's medical and behavioral research grants policies, guidelines and funding opportunities.

NIH-Defined Phase III Clinical Trial

An NIH-defined Phase III clinical trial is a broadly based prospective Phase III clinical investigation, usually involving several hundred or more human subjects, for the purpose of evaluating an experimental intervention in comparison with a standard or controlled intervention or comparing two or more existing treatments. Often the aim of such investigation is to provide evidence leading to a scientific basis for consideration of a change in health policy or standard of care. The definition includes pharmacologic, non-pharmacologic, and behavioral interventions given for disease prevention, prophylaxis, diagnosis, or therapy. Community trials and other population-based intervention trials are also included.

NIH/OD

National Institutes of Health, Office of the Director

NIMH

NIH National Institute of Mental Health

No-Cost Extension

An extension of time to a project period and/or budget period to complete the work of the grant under that period, without additional Federal funds or competition. See NIH Standard Terms of Award and Prior Approval Requirements.

Non-Competing Continuation Application/Award

A financial assistance request (in the form of an application or progress report) or resulting award for a subsequent budget period within a previously approved project period for which a recipient does not have to compete with other applicants.

Non-competing Continuation Awards

A financial assistance request (in the form of an application or progress report) or resulting award for a subsequent budget period within a previously approved project period for which a recipient does not have to compete with other applicants.

Non-Federal Entity

A state, local government, Indian tribe, institution of higher education (IHE), or nonprofit organization that carries out a Federal award as a recipient or subrecipient.

NOSI

Notices posted in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts that succinctly highlight a specific topic of interest, for example a specific area of research or program. These notices direct applicants to one or more active funding opportunity announcements (often parent announcements) for submission of applications for the initiative described. Many program announcements will be issued as Notices of Special Interest going forward.

Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO)

A publicly available document by which a Federal Agency makes known its intentions to award discretionary grants or cooperative agreements, usually as a result of competition for funds. Notices of funding opportunity may be known as funding opportunity announcements, program announcements, requests for applications, notices of funding availability, solicitations, or other names depending on the Agency and type of program. Notices of funding opportunity can be found at Grants.gov/FIND and in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts.

NRFC

An application may be designated Not Recommended for Further Consideration (NRFC) by the Scientific Review Group if it lacks significant and substantial merit; presents serious ethical problems in the protection of human subjects from research risks; or presents serious ethical problems in the use of vertebrate animals, biohazards, and/or select agents. Applications designated as NRFC do not proceed to the second level of peer review (National Advisory Council/Board) because they cannot be funded.

NRSA

National Research Service Award - Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA)

O

Office of Research Integrity

(ORI) - HHS office promoting integrity in biomedical and behavioral research supported by the Public Health Service by monitoring institutional investigations of scientific misconduct and facilitating the responsible conduct of research.

OHRP

Office for Human Research Protections - HHS office overseeing human subject protection for HHS-supported research.

OLAW

Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare - NIH office overseeing compliance with the PHS Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals

ORIS

Office of Research Information Systems - Provides IT systems, data and reporting support for grants processing for NIH and other agencies (HHS Operating Divisions and the Veterans' Administration).

P

Parent Announcement

NIH-wide FOA enabling applicants to electronically submit investigator-initiated grant application for a specific activity code, e.g., Research Project Grant (Parent R01).

Learn more about types of funding opportunity announcements .

Payline

The percentile rank is based on a ranking of the impact scores assigned by a peer review committee. The percentile payline is a conservative cutoff point for funding applications.

PECASE

Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers - The Presidential Award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. Government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers.

Peer Review

The process that involves the consistent application of standards and procedures that produce fair, equitable, and objective examinations of applications based on an evaluation of scientific or technical merit or other relevant aspects of the application. The review is performed by experts (Peer Reviewers) in the field of endeavor for which support is requested. Peer review is intended to provide guidance and recommendations to the NIH individuals responsible for making award decisions.

Peer Review Criteria

The reviewers judge the overall impact for the project to exert a sustained, powerful influence on the research field(s) based on five criteria: Significance, Investigator(s), Innovation, Approach, and Environment.

Personally Identifiable Information

Information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual's identity, either alone or when combined with other personal or identifying information that is linked or linkable to a specific individual. Some information that is considered to be PII is available in public sources such as telephone books, public Web sites, and university listings. This type of information is considered to be Public PII and includes, for example, first and last name, address, work telephone number, email address, home telephone number, and general educational credentials. The definition of PII is not anchored to any single category of information or technology. Rather, it requires a case-by-case assessment of the specific risk that an individual can be identified. Non-PII can become PII whenever additional information is made publicly available, in any medium and from any source, that, when combined with other available information, could be used to identify an individual.

Phase IIB Competing Renewal

An application requiring competitive peer review and Institute/Center action to continue beyond the SBIR/STTR Phase II award.

Planned Enrollment Report

The Planned Enrollment Report is used when you are planning to conduct a study that meets the NIH definition for clinical research. It provides a breakdown of the planned sample by sex/gender, race, and ethnicity.

PMCID

PubMed Central Reference

PMCID

PubMed Central Reference

Postdoctoral Scholar

An individual who has received a doctoral degree (or equivalent) and is engaged in a temporary and defined period of mentored advanced training.

Program Announcement

A PA is a formal statement about a new or ongoing extramural activity or program. It may serve as a reminder of continuing interest in a research area, describe modification in an activity or program, and/or invite applications for grant support. Most applications in response to PAs may be submitted to a standing submission date and are reviewed with all other applications received at that time using standard peer review processes. NIH may also make funds available through PARs (PAs with special receipt, referral, and/or review considerations) and PASs (PAs with set-aside funds).

PAs may be used for any support mechanism other than construction awards. Unless otherwise specified in the PA, new applications (and associated renewal and revision applications) submitted in response to PAs are treated as investigator-initiated. PAs also are used to annually solicit applications for the SBIR and STTR programs. Those applications must be received by the dates specified in the PA.

Program Announcements (PA) are published in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts. Go to Program Announcements. Learn more about types of funding opportunity announcements.

Progress Report

Periodic, report submitted by the grantee and used by NIH to assess progress and, except for the final progress report of a project period, to determine whether to provide funding for the budget period subsequent to that covered by the report.

Project Number

Commonly referred to as the application number or grant number, depending upon its processing status. This unique identification number for the grant is composed of the type code, activity code, Institute code, serial number, support year, and/or suffix.

PROMIS

Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information Systems

Protected Personally Identifiable Information

PII - An individual's first name or first initial and last name in combination with any one or more of types of information, including, but not limited to, social security number, etc.

Public Access Policy

The NIH policy designed to ensure that the public has access to the published results of NIH-funded research.

PubMed

PubMed provides access to citations from biomedical literature. It includes over 17 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for biomedical articles back to the 1950s, along with links to full text articles and other resources.

R

Racial Categories

American Indian or Alaska Native: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North, Central, or South America, and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment.
 
Asian: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam. (Note: Individuals from the Philippine Islands have been recorded as Pacific Islanders in previous data collection strategies.)
 
Black or African American: A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. Terms such as “Haitian or “Negro can be used in addition to “Black or African American.
 
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.
 
White: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.

REAP

Research Enhancement Award Programs