Which Study Section Should I Pick? Try the Assisted Referral Tool!

One important aspect of submitting grants to the NIH is selecting an appropriate study section. While the general descriptions on the CSR website can be helpful, they often require further investigation, which can (and should) include contacting SROs, talking to current or former study section members, and/or looking up similar types of grants on RePORTER to see where they were reviewed.

However, it can often be difficult determining just where to start or where your grant may really fit in. CSR has provided a new tool called the Assisted Referral Tool (ART) to help you find the perfect home for your grant.

ART allows you to paste in text from your grant (typically your Specific Aims) and provides a list of recommended and ranked study sections based on matches with words found in your text. You may be surprised to find study sections you had not considered in the past (it also recommends SBIR/STRR special emphasis panels). ART is another tool to add to your arsenal when applying for NIH funding. Visit ART.