1. Overview of CSR
Study Section Meetings
Joan Tucker, PhD
Senior Behavioral Scientist
RAND Corporation

2. Slide 2
What Happens Before the Meeting?
• Study section members review list of applications
and notify SRO of any conflicts of interest
• Each application is typically assigned to 3 reviewers
• The lead and secondary reviewers write a full review;
the discussant writes an overall impact paragraph
• NIH scoring system uses a 9-point rating for the
impact/priority score (1 = exceptional to 9 = poor)
• Assigned reviewers also provide ratings for each
review criterion (e.g., Significance, Innovation)

3. Slide 3
What Happens Before the Meeting?
• Assigned reviewers post their critique and ratings a
few days prior to the meeting
• This allows:
– All study section members to read the reviews and
ratings ahead of time
– SRO to determine order of review based on
preliminary ratings provided by the assigned
reviewers, including identifying applications that
will likely not be discussed at the meeting

4. Slide 4
What Happens During the Meeting?
• Suggested time limit for discussing applications is 15
minutes per R01, 10 minutes per R21 or R03
• Members with a conflict of interest leave the room
• Each of the assigned reviewers states his/her priority
score for the application
• Lead reviewer briefly describes the study and
highlights principal strengths and weaknesses
according to review criteria
• Secondary reviewer and discussant are given an
opportunity to weigh in (but if they have nothing to
add, they can say so)

5. Slide 5
What Happens During the Meeting?
• Discussion is opened up to full committee, who can
ask questions or offer further comment on
strengths/weaknesses
• Protections for Human Subjects and Inclusion codes
are then reviewed
• Budget concerns can be discussed, but “F word”
cannot be used during review

6. Slide 6
What Happens During the Meeting?
• Assigned reviewers revisit their priority score;
sometimes scores change based on discussion,
sometimes they don’t
• This creates a range of scores for the application
• Discussed applications receive priority scores from
all eligible reviewers. While most will score the
application within the range, they can ask to score
the application outside the range.
• Scores are averaged and the result multiplied by 10
to determine final priority score (range of 10 to 90)

7. Slide 7
What Happens After the Meeting?
• Assigned reviewers may be asked to change their
critique after the meeting if:
– They have changed their score based on
discussion (so that the critique matches the score)
– A weakness is raised during the discussion that
isn’t reflected in any of the critiques, but needs
attention by the PI if the application is resubmitted