NCI National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) Program Guidelines

PART 2: Submission of New/Competing Application Section III.B.2.2 – Review Criteria
Network Group SDMC
2.2 Network Group Statistics and Data Management Center Review Criteria
Only the review criteria described below (and the Additional Review Criteria – Overall listed
in Part 2 – Section III.B.3.) will be considered in the review process. As part of the NIH
mission, all applications submitted to the NIH in support of biomedical and behavioral
research are evaluated for scientific and technical merit through the NIH peer review
system.
2.2.1 Overall Impact - Overall
Reviewers will provide an overall impact/priority score to reflect their assessment of
the likelihood for the proposed Network Group Statistics and Data Management
Center to exert a sustained, powerful influence on the research field(s) involved, in
consideration of the following review criteria and additional review criteria (as
applicable for the proposed Network Group Statistics and Data Management Center).
2.2.2 Scored Review Criteria – Overall
Reviewers will consider each of the review criteria below in the determination of
scientific merit, and give a separate score for each. An application does not need to be
strong in all categories to be judged likely to have major scientific impact. For
example, a proposed Network Group Statistics and Data Management Center that by
its nature is not innovative may be essential to advance a field.
Significance
Does the proposed Network Group Statistics and Data Management Center help
address an important problem or a critical barrier to progress in the field? If the aims
of the proposed Network Group Statistics and Data Management Center are achieved,
how will scientific knowledge, technical capability, and/or clinical practice be
improved? How will successful completion of the aims change the concepts,
methods, technologies, treatments, services, or preventative interventions that drive
this field?
Investigator(s)
Are the PD(s)/PI(s), collaborators, and other researchers well suited to the proposed
Network Group Statistics and Data Management Center's Statistics Program and Data
Management Program as well as its plans for collaborations and collective
management? If Early Stage Investigators or New Investigators, or in the early stages
of independent careers, do they have appropriate experience and training? If
established, have they demonstrated an ongoing record of accomplishments that
have advanced their field(s)? Given that all NCTN Program research projects/trials are
collaborative, and regardless of whether the applicants choose to use the multi-PD/PI
option, do the investigators have complementary and integrated expertise; are their
leadership approach, governance and organizational structure appropriate for the
clinical research that the proposed Network Group Statistics and Data Management
Center helps conduct and manage?
Innovation
Does the application challenge and seek to shift current research or clinical practice
paradigms by utilizing novel theoretical concepts, approaches or methodologies,
instrumentation, or interventions? Are the concepts, approaches or methodologies,
instrumentation, or interventions novel to one field of research or novel in a broad
sense? Is a refinement, improvement, or new application of theoretical concepts,
approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions proposed?
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