Grants Bulletin

April 24, 2013

Limited Submissions

• HUD – Transformation Initiative: Sustainable Communities Research Grant Program – April 29
• U.S. DOE – Accelerating the Deployment of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Technologies in South Africa and Saudi Arabia – April 30
• U.S. Department of State – Global Connections and Exchange: Youth TechCamps – April 30
• USA Funds – Key Transitions in Postsecondary Education – May 1
• NSF – Online Resource Center for Ethics Education in Science and Engineering (ORCEESE) NSF 13-558 – May 14
• NSF – Collections in Support of Biological Research (CSBR) NSF 13-557 – May 14
• NSF – Physics Frontiers Centers (PFC) NSF 13-559 – May 20
• NSF – Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (NSF 13-556) – May 29

To view these and other limited submission competitions, visit the Proposal Development Office site.

"Pizza and Pilots (Proposals)" – Survey Design and Analysis and Open Consultation with BERD Members – April 29

Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Research Design (BERD) invites you to a pizza lunch conversation sponsored by the Center for Clinical And Translational Science in CCTS Conference Room (C315, Chandler Medical Center) from 11:00 am to 11:45 am, with an open consultation with BERD members from 11:45 am to 12:30 pm. This month's session, part of a series of meetings offered by BERD and sponsored by CCTS on the last Monday of each month, will provide an overview of the main principles of questionnaire design and survey sampling and examine how choices made in the design of a survey determine how you analaze the data. Please indicate on your RSVP your need for consultation and a short description of your project. The BERD will be available for consultations on study design, data analysis, statistical software questions, proposal development and/or writing, or any other statistical questions.

Please RSVP to Catherine Starnes by April 26.

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April 17, 2013

Limited Submissions

• The Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation – Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards Program – April 24
• NSF – Widening Implementation & Demonstration of Evidence-Based Reforms (WIDER) – May 7

To view these and other limited submission competitions, visit the Proposal Development Office site.

CTSA-sponsored Summer Course – register by April 27

Summer Session I CPH738-010: Tools and Application in Biomedical Informatics (pdf, 4 pages)

Reminder of NIH’s Policy for Handling Electronic System Issues that Threaten On-Time Grant Application Submission

Notice Number: NOT-OD-13-054
Release Date: April 9, 2013
Related Announcements: NOT-OD-11-035
Issued by: National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Purpose
The submission of a grant application is a process that requires applicant organizations to register and interact with a number of Federal electronic systems, including NIH’s electronic Research Administration (eRA) Commons, Grants.gov, and the System for Award Management (SAM). Each of these systems is managed by a different Federal agency and has different help desks. On occasion, technical problems with one of these Federal systems could result in an applicant failing to meet the grant application due date. This Guide Notice serves as a reminder of NIH policies regarding the submission of late applications if a system issue beyond an applicant’s control is suspected as the cause of the late application.

Guidelines for Applicants Experiencing System Issues
If the on-time submission of an application is being threatened by a system issue that is beyond their control, applicants must follow the NIH guidelines for reporting the issue. System issues are defined as technical problems with Federal systems that keep an applicant from successfully submitting their grant application on time. Problems with computer systems at an applicant organization or a non-government third party are not considered system issues, nor are failures to complete any required registration by the submission deadline.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit well before the submission deadline (days, not hours) and to remember that on high volume submission due dates, it may take a few hours for the application to process through both Grants.gov and eRA Commons. Applicants should be sure to take this processing time into consideration and leave enough time to make any corrected submissions that might be needed to ensure submission of an error-free application by the deadline.

Applicants encountering system issues should work with the appropriate help desk to resolve the problem. If the system issue threatens the ability to submit an on-time application, applicants must report the system issue to NIH’s eRA Help Desk on or before the deadline. Reports of system issues will be investigated on a case by case basis. If the eRA Help Desk confirms the problem is a system issue, the application will not be considered late as long as the applicant works diligently with the Help Desk to resolve the problem as quickly as possible.

All applications submitted after the deadline must include a cover letter documenting the confirmed system issue, relevant Help Desk ticket numbers, and the action(s) taken to resolve the issue(s). 
Applicants that fail to document their issues on or before the submission deadline will be subject to the NIH Policy on Late Submission of Grant Applications.

Please direct all inquiries to: 
NIH Grants Information
Email: GrantsInfo@nih.gov 
Telephone: (301) 435-0714

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April 10, 2013

Limited Submissions

• U.S. Department of State – Pan-Africa Youth Leadership Program – April 15
• U.S. Department of State – Democracy, Human Rights, and Access to Justice in the Western Hemisphere – April 15
• NIH/NINDS – NINDS Stroke Trials Network – Regional Coordinating Stroke Centers (U10) – April 18
• National Endowment for the Arts / South Arts – Literary Arts Grant Program – April 18
• HUD – Choice Neighborhoods Initiative – Planning Grants – April 24
• HRSA – Flex Rural Veterans Health Access Program (HRSA-13-246) – NO INTERNAL COMPETITION for 2013 – May 17
• U.S. Department of State – Internet Freedom Programs – May 17

To view these and other limited submission competitions, visit the Proposal Development Office site.

Request for Information (RFI): Reducing Investigator’s Administrative Workload for Federally Funded Research

Over the past decade two Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP) Faculty Workload Surveys (2005 and 2012) indicate that administrative burdens associated with Federal research funding are consuming roughly 42% of an awardee’s available research time. To help address these issues, the National Science Board (Board) recently created a Task Force on Administrative Burdens. The Task Force is seeking recommendations from principal investigators for reducing the administrative workload associated with their Federal awards. Responses to this RFI will be considered as the Board develops recommendations to ensure investigators’ administrative workload is at an appropriate level.

Request for Information: Reducing Investigator's Administrative Workload for Federally Funded Research
(Full RFI, 6-page PDF)

There are two ways to respond:  (1) You can send your response in an email or as an attached text document (e.g., Word document) to Administrative-Reform@nsf.gov OR (2) you can enter your responses directly into the RFI PDF using the following instructions:

1. Download and save the fillable RFI to your computer.
2. Enter your responses directly into the PDF and save your completed PDF to your computer.
3. Send the completed PDF as an attachment to Administrative-Reform@nsf.gov

Responses to this RFI will be accepted through May 24, 2013. Email addresses will be anonymized and responses kept confidential consistent with our obligations to comply with a judicial or administrative subpoena, or a FOIA request pursuant to 5 USC § 552. Please note that any personal information contained within the body of the email/response (i.e. signature lines) will be retained if not deleted by the sender. Any questions or inquiries should be sent to: Administrative-Reform-Inquiries@nsf.gov.

For more information about the Taskforce on Administrative Burdens, please visit the Taskforce home page.

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April 4, 2013

Limited Submissions

• CDC – National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Public Health Conference Support Program – April 11
• Brain Research Foundation Scientific Innovations Award – May 2

To view these and other limited submission competitions, visit the Proposal Development Office site.

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH PUBLIC ACCESS POLICY and MyNCBI

This is a compilation of various notices issued by the National Institutes of Health.

Overview
The NIH Public Access Policy ensures that the public has access to the published results of NIH funded research. It requires scientists to submit final peer-reviewed journal manuscripts that arise from any direct NIH funds to the digital archive PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication. The Policy requires that these papers are accessible to the public on PubMed Central no later than 12 months after publication.

eRA Commons has partnered with the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) in providing a personal online tool called ‘MyNCBI’. MyNCBI offers an online portal, ‘My Bibliography,’ for users to maintain and manage a list of their authored works such as journal articles, manuscripts accepted for publication, books, and other materials.

Background and History
On July 14, 2004, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee adopted a set of recommendations for the 2005 federal budget. One key recommendation instructed the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop a policy requiring free online access to articles based on NIH-funded research after their publication in peer-reviewed journals.

On November 20, 2004, the House-Senate conference committee reaffirmed a version of the House recommendation, and the resulting appropriations bill was approved by both houses of Congress. President Bush signed it on December 8. 

The policy took effect on May 2, 2005 and was voluntary from 2005-2008.

As of May 25, 2008, anyone submitting an application, proposal or progress report to the NIH must include the PMC or NIH Manuscript Submission (NIHMS) reference number when citing applicable articles that arise from their NIH funded research.

In 2010, NIH required use of MyNCBI to manage citations in eSNAP progress reports. In 2012, NIH enforced use of MyNCBI with the design of the new Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR).

For non-competing continuation grant awards with a start date of July 1, 2013 or beyond:

1. NIH will delay processing of an award if publications arising from it are not in compliance with the NIH public access policy.
2. Investigators will need to use MyNCBI to enter papers onto progress reports. Papers can be associated electronically using the RPPR, or included in the PHS 2590 using the MyNCBI generated PDF report.

Applicability
The Policy applies to any manuscript that:

• Is peer-reviewed;
• And, is accepted for publication in a journal on or after April 7, 2008;
• And, arises from:
• Any direct funding¹ from an NIH grant or cooperative agreement active in Fiscal Year 2008 or beyond, or;
• Any direct funding from an NIH contract signed on or after April 7, 2008, or;
• Any direct funding from the NIH Intramural Program, or;
• An NIH employee

¹"Direct funding" means costs that can be specifically identified with a particular project or activity. 

Until further notice, papers written in scripts other than Latin (e.g., Russian, Japanese) cannot be processed by the NIHMS. These papers are not required to be posted on PubMed Central and do not require evidence of compliance on applications, proposals or reports. The NIHMS continues to process papers written in Latin (Roman) script that contain characters and fonts used in standard mathematical notation.

Authors may submit final peer-reviewed manuscripts accepted before April 7, 2008 that arises from NIH funds, if they have appropriate copyright permission.

Applications, Proposals and Reports must include evidence of compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy for all applicable papers that are authored by the Principal Investigator (PI) or arose from the PI’s NIH funds.

Preparation is Key to Avoiding Delays in Funding. Some suggestions:

• eRA Commons: Users must link an eRA Commons account to a new or existing MyNCBI account which allows references saved in MyBibliography to automatically appear in users’ progress reports that are prepared in eRA Commons. Create an account in MyNCBI using your eRA Commons ID, or link your current MyNCBI account with your eRA Commons account.
• My Bibliography: Use MyNCBI’s My Bibliography feature to monitor Public Access compliance for all the applicable papers that you author or arise from your NIH award. As you plan a paper or support one with your NIH award, discuss with the authors how the paper and the NIH awards that support it will comply with the Public Access Policy.
• Address Copyright: Before you sign a publication agreement or similar copyright transfer agreement, make sure that the agreement allows the paper to be posted to PubMed Central (PMC) in accordance with the NIH Public Access Policy.
  

Overview of Submission Methods

There are four methods to ensure that an applicable paper is submitted to PubMed Central (PMC) in compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy. Authors may use whichever method is most appropriate for them and consistent with their publishing agreement.

	Method A Journal deposits final published articles in PubMed Central without author involvement	Method B Author asks publisher to deposit specific final published article in PMC	Method C  Author deposits final peer-reviewed manuscript in PMC via the NIHMS	Method D Author completes submission of final peer-reviewed manuscript deposited by publisher in the NIHMS
Version of Paper Submitted	Final Published Article	Final Published Article	Final Peer-Reviewed Manuscript	Final Peer-Reviewed Manuscript
Task 1: Who starts the deposit process?	Publisher	Publisher	Author or designee, via NIHMS	Publisher
Task 2: Who approves paper for processing?	Publisher	Publisher	Author, via NIHMS	Author, via NIHMS
Task 3: Who approves paper for Pub Med Central display?	Publisher	Publisher	Author, via NIHMS	Author, via NIHMS
Participating journal/publisher	Method A Journals	Make arrangements with these publishers	Check publishing agreement	Make arrangements with these publishers
Who is Responsible?	NIH Awardee	NIH Awardee	NIH Awardee	NIH Awardee
To cite papers, from acceptance for publication to 3 months post publication	PMCID or “PMC Journal- In Process”	PMCID or “PMC Journal- In Process”	PMCID or NIHMSID	PMCID or NIHMSID
To cite papers, 3 months post publication and beyond	PMCID	PMCID	PMCID	PMCID

Method A: Publish in a journal that deposits all final published articles in PubMed Central (PMC) without author involvement.
Some journals automatically deposit all NIH-funded final published articles in PubMed Central, to be made publicly available within 12 months of publication, without author involvement. See the list of these journals at http://publicaccess.nih.gov/submit_process_journals.htm

Method B: Make arrangements to have the publisher deposit a specific final published article in PubMed Central
Some publishers will deposit an individual final published article in PubMed Central upon author request, and generally for a fee. See the list of publishers at: http://publicaccess.nih.gov/select_deposit_publishers.htm#b

Method C: Deposit the final peer-reviewed manuscript in PubMed Central yourself via the NIH Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS).
Submitting a final peer-reviewed manuscript to PubMed Central (PMC) via the NIHMS involves three tasks. Task 1 may be done by an author or by someone in the author’s organization (e.g., an assistant). Tasks 2 and 3 must be done by the author.

A Note on Timing: NIH awardees are responsible for ensuring that manuscripts are submitted to the NIHMS upon acceptance for publication and that all NIHMS tasks are complete within three months of publication.

Task 1: Deposit Manuscript Files and Link to NIH Funding
Upload a copy of the accepted final peer-reviewed manuscript and associated files via the NIHMS. At the same time, identify the NIH funding associated with the manuscript. It usually takes less than 10 minutes to complete this task.

Task 2: Authorize NIH to Process the Manuscript
The author designates the number of months after publication when the manuscript may be made publicly available in PMC (follow the journal’s policy, maximum of 12 months post publication date). The author then confirms, via the NIHMS, a statement that the deposit of the manuscript is consistent with any publication and copyright agreements, and that NIH may begin processing the manuscript for use in PMC.

Task 3: Approve the PMC-formatted Manuscript for Public Display
The NIHMS will convert the deposited files into a standard PMC format, and email the author to approve the PMC-formatted manuscript for public display. The author then reviews and approves the PMC-formatted manuscript via the NIHMS. Corrections to the manuscript, if necessary, may be requested at this time. 

Following completion of Task 3:

• The NIHMS will email the author and all PIs the citation with the PMCID once it is assigned;
• PMC will automatically make the paper publicly available after the designated delay period has expired.

Method D: Complete the submission process for a final peer-reviewed manuscript that the publisher has deposited in the NIH Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS).
In a variation of Method C, some publishers deposit the manuscript files in the NIHMS, provide contact information for a corresponding author, and designate the number of months after publication when the paper may be made publicly available in PMC. See the list of Method D publishers at: http://publicaccess.nih.gov/select_deposit_publishers.htm#d

The NIHMS will notify the author when the manuscript files are received from the publisher. At that point, the author must complete all of the tasks outlined for Method C, except for the file deposit part of Task 1 above.
See Method C, above, for Tasks 1-3
Following completion of Task 3:

• The NIHMS will email the author and all PIs the citation with the PMCID once it is assigned;
• PMC will automatically make the paper publicly available after the designated delay period has expired.

Include PMCID in Citation

PMC will automatically make the paper publicly available after the designated delay period has expired.

Anyone submitting an application, proposal or report to the NIH must include the PMC reference number (PMCID) when citing applicable papers that they author or that arise from their NIH-funded research.

Resources

• NIH Public Access Policy Details:  http://publicaccess.nih.gov/policy.htm
• RPPR instructions:  http://grants.nih.gov/grants/rppr/rppr_instruction_guide.pdf