It's a Mountain of Grant Applications

Approximately 20,000 Challenge Grant applications were submitted, says NIH. All those applicants should expect their summary statements with critiques and criterion score from three reviewers by August. According to NIH, more than 18,000 researchers will participate in the peer review process for the Challenge Grants. These numbers, however, are a source of concern for the director of NIH's Center for Scientific Review, Antonio Scarpa, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. He says that for each application, the reviewers work about 12 hours each and that as many as 99 percent of the applications will be denied — and they may be resubmitted later. "This is not sustainable," Scarpa says.