SFN - Society for Neuroscience
08/21/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 08/21/2026 07:46
Statement of Concern Regarding NIHs Proposed Changes to Peer Review
For immediate release
Statement of Concern Regarding NIHs Proposed Changes to Peer Review
Aug 21, 2026
The Society for Neuroscience is concerned that NIH's proposed changes to grant review and funding decisions would diminish the role of scientific peer review, reduce transparency, and expand administrative discretion without adequate safeguards or supporting evidence.
The proposal would have applications grouped into broad categories (top 25th quartile, 26-50th quartile, below 50th quartile) instead of sharing detailed overall impact scores and percentile rankings generated through peer review with applicants, NIH staff, Institute leadership, and advisory councils.
Scientific peer review must remain the primary foundation of NIH funding. This proposal would make it more difficult to evaluate funding decisions, reduce accountability, limit useful feedback to applicants, and weaken advisory council oversight.
SfN believes that NIH has provided insufficient justification for this significant change, as the process for formulation of the proposal was not transparent. Additionally, NIH has not released the evidence, analyses, or rationale needed to evaluate this proposal.
Changes to NIH's peer-review system should be evidence-based, transparently developed, rigorously evaluated, and accompanied by clear safeguards that preserve the central role of scientific judgment in funding decisions.
SfN will equip members with resources to comment to NIH in the coming days.
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