Receipt and Referral

Learn what happens once your application is received by NIH including how we determine which study section it will go to for peer review and how we assign it for funding consideration.

All grant applications submitted to the NIH go to the Division of Receipt and Referral (DRR) within the Center for Scientific Review (CSR). After receiving the application DRR:

• Checks the application for completeness
• Determines area of research and determines which specific NIH Institute or Center to assign it to for possible funding
• Assigns an application identification number
• Assigns application to a specific study section, also known as a Scientific Review Group (SRG) or review committee that has the expertise to evaluate the scientific and technical merit of the application.
  • CSR coordinates the reviews for most R01s, fellowships, and small business applications, as well as some PAs, PARs, & RFA's
  • Institutes and Centers coordinate the review for applications that have Institute-specific features such as program project grants, training grants, career development awards, and responses to Requests for Applications.

Applicants can use eRA Commons to:

• Retrieve assignment information
• Find contact information for the assigned program and scientific review officers
• Find review meeting and council meeting dates
• Withdraw submitted applications from consideration, see Withdraw Your Application.

For more information on the Receipt and Referral process, see CSR: Submission and Assignment .

Have questions about the assignment of your application to a particular Institute or Center? Contact the CSR referral office at 301-435-0715.  Or if you have a question about the review assignment, you can contact the referral office or the specific Scientific Review Officer (SRO) assigned to that application.