Activity Codes: A code assigned by the National Institutes of Health to identify support mechanisms.  General categories include research grants, contracts, training, and fellowships.  Research grants can be subdivided into research projects, research centers, and other research grants.

Advisory Council: Chartered NIH institute advisory committee that performs second-level review, makes funding and policy recommendations, and helps develop research initiatives.

Center for Scientific Review (CSR): The Center for Scientific Review is the office that receives all grant applications for NIH and organizes the peer review groups that evaluate the majority (70%) of the research grant applications sent to NIH.

Extramural research: Research supported by funds from the NIH to researchers and organizations outside the NIH through a grant, contract or cooperative agreement.

IACUC: Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, a committee which oversees and evaluates all aspects of the institution's animal care and use program.

IRB: Institutional Review Board, a committee responsible for ensuring the protection of human participants in research at an institution.

Integrated Review Group (IRG): a cluster of study sections responsible for the review of grant applications in scientifically related areas.

Notice of grant award: Legally binding document that notifies a grantee and others that a grant has been funded; contains or references all terms and conditions of an award; and documents the obligation of federal funds.

PI: Principal Investigator is a qualified person designated by an applicant institution to direct a research project or program supported by NIH who usually writes the grant application. PIs oversee scientific and technical aspects of a grant and the day-to-day management of the research. PIs do not have to be employees of a grantee organization; however, these parties must have a written agreement specifying their relationship.

Percentile: represents the relative position or rank of each priority score (along a 100.0 percentile band) among the scores assigned by a particular study section.

Priority Score: A numerical rating that reflects the scientific merit of the proposed research relative to the “state of the science”

Scientific Review Administrator (SRA): NIH health scientist administrators in charge of review and advisory groups.

Study section: panel of experts established according to scientific disciplines or current research areas for the primary purpose of evaluating the scientific and technical merit of grant applications. Also called scientific review groups (SRGs).

Summary statement: a combination of the reviewers’ written comments and the SRA’s summary of the members’ discussion during the study section meeting. It includes the recommendations of the study section, a recommended budget, and administrative notes of special consideration.

Streamlining: process in which applications deemed by reviewers to be in the lower half of those assigned for review are not scored, or discussed at the review meeting. Streamlined applications are returned with written critiques from the assigned reviewers.