For applications due on or after January 25, 2025, NIH will use the Simplified Peer Review Framework to score most research project grant applications. Notably, the new Framework reorganizes the five regulatory criteria (Significance, Investigators, Innovation, Approach, Environment) into three factors (Importance of the Research, Rigor and Feasibility, and Expertise and Resources).
Resource Sharing Plan
If your proposed research is subject to the Model Organism Sharing Policy, the Research Tools Policy, and/or requires software sharing, create a unified Resource Sharing Plan to share these resources. You will attach the plan as a PDF to the Resource Sharing Plans field of the PHS 398 Research Plan Form, PHS 398 Career Development Supplemental Form, or PHS Fellowship Supplemental Form. This does not count toward your Research Strategy page limit.
If your proposed research will create a new model organism, you must submit a Resource Sharing Plan. The content and level of detail in a sharing plan depends on several factors, such as the status of the development of a model organism, the method of sharing, and the potential impact of intellectual property rights on the available animal model.
Include a justification if you are not providing a plan for an organism that would normally require sharing. Add information to other sections of the application as appropriate. You may also need to respond to notice of funding opportunity-specific resource sharing requirements outlined in the specific funding opportunity (e.g., software sharing).
Check NIH’s Sample Research Sharing Plans and the following NIAID examples:
- Complex Model Organisms Sharing Plan
- Simple Model Organisms Sharing Plan
- Model Organisms Sharing Plan for Mice
Find additional details in the Other Sharing Policies section of NIH’s Scientific Data Sharing website.
Finishing Up
Look over the plan you’ve written and imagine where a critical reviewer might identify potential questions or weak spots.
Enlist others to do that too—they can look at your application with a fresh eye. Include people who aren't familiar with your research to make sure you can get your point across to someone outside your field.