NIGMS continues to support a wide range of topics and investigators, maintaining a broad biomedical research portfolio. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2022, NIGMS received a congressional appropriation of $3,092,373,000. Consistent with the Institute’s mission, a large portion of these funds support investigator-initiated research project grants (RPGs) at institutions throughout the country. As part of its commitment to transparency, NIGMS publishes data on annual trends in its grant portfolios. In this post, we describe investigator-level trends for RPGs and review the trends associated with competing RPGs as well as those in the Institute’s Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) program.
NIGMS Investigator-Level Trends for Research Grants
At NIGMS, we focus on supporting a broad group of investigators. As a result, we monitor two statistics that describe our investigator pool: the cumulative investigator rate and the number of funded early stage investigators (ESIs). The number of newly funded ESIs has notably increased over recent years, and continued support for ESIs is integral to the success of the biomedical research enterprise and is a priority for the Institute. Figure 1 illustrates the number of ESIs who received their first competing NIGMS R01-equivalent grants each year between FY 2013 and FY 2022. In FY 2022, NIGMS awarded R01-equivalent grants to 319 ESIs in total: 31 investigators received R01 awards, 268 investigators received R35 (MIRA) awards, and 20 investigators received NIH Director’s New Innovator Awards (DP2s). These data include DP2s (four awards) administered by NIGMS on behalf of the NIH Office of the Director. The number of funded ESI MIRAs in FY 2022 was the largest to date, and more than four times larger than in the program’s first year. Overall, the number of funded ESIs has risen almost every year since FY 2013, with the slight decrease in the number of awards between FY 2017 and FY 2018 due in part to the introduction of the MIRA program in FY 2016 and a temporary reduction in the built-up ESI applicant pool as more ESIs received funding.
More recently, the high success rates and other benefits of the MIRA program, which we examine in greater detail later in this post, has prompted an increase in the number of applications from ESIs. In addition, NIGMS has implemented NIH-wide Next Generation Researchers Initiative (NGRI) policies that encourage increased support for ESI applications. In general, NIGMS aims to provide a combination of stable support for existing investigators as well as sustainable growth in its investigator pool. A more detailed analysis of MIRA application funding and demographic trends can be found in this post.
NIGMS ESIs Awarded R01-Equivalent Grants
Figure 1. Number of NIGMS Competing R01, R35, and DP2 ESI Awardees, FY 2013-2022. Illustrated are the number of unique ESIs receiving their first major competing R01 (solid black bars), R35 (blue-striped bars), DP2 (solid gray bars). In FY 2019, ESI R01 awards include one U01 award. Numbers from FY 2019 onward reflect NIH’s updated definitions of ESI-eligible applications as delineated by the NGRI.
The cumulative investigator rate is another measure of investigators’ success in receiving NIGMS funding. The rate represents the number of investigators who receive funding (competing or noncompeting) in a given fiscal year compared to the number of investigators actively seeking funding at some point in that fiscal year or in the previous 4 fiscal years. In other words, it measures the percentage of investigators who want to be funded by NIGMS compared to those who are funded by the Institute. Figure 2 shows the number of investigators who submitted R01 and/or R35 applications and those who received competing or noncompeting awards, as well as the cumulative investigator rate from FY 2013 to FY 2022. In FY 2022, the cumulative investigator rate (44.9%) was the highest to date.
NIGMS Competing R01/R35 Applicants, Awardees, and Cumulative Investigator Rates
Figure 2. Number of NIGMS R01/R35 Applicants, Awardees, and Cumulative Investigator Rates, FY 2013-2022. Applicants (blue dashed line with circles; left axis) represent the number of unique investigators who had been actively seeking NIGMS R01 and R35 support in the indicated fiscal year or in the previous 4 fiscal years. Awardees (green solid line with squares; left axis) are the number of unique applicants who received competing or noncompeting NIGMS R01 and R35 support in the indicated fiscal year. NIGMS funded 4,296 awardees in FY 2022, an increase from FY 2021. The cumulative investigator rate (gray dotted line with triangles; right axis) represents the number of funded NIGMS investigators in a given fiscal year divided by the number of investigators actively seeking funding at some point in that fiscal year or in the previous 4 fiscal years. There was an increase in the cumulative investigator rate between FY 2021 and FY 2022 (from 43.2% to 44.9%).
NIGMS Competing Research Project Grant Trends
NIGMS annually measures its application-level success rate, or the number of applications funded relative to the number of distinct applications received. Figure 3 illustrates the number of competing NIGMS applications and awards and the associated success rates for RPGs from FY 2013 to FY 2022. The success rate in FY 2022 was 35.8%, an increase from 33.4% in FY 2021. Note that success rates are contingent upon factors such as the number of incoming applications, overall budget, existing commitments to noncompeting awards, and funding policies. The lower number of applications in FY 2022 continues the trend in recent fiscal years that mirrors the drop in investigators submitting applications (figure 2). Two factors may be contributing to this observed trend. First, investigators who are funded by MIRA are limited in the number of other applications they can submit to NIGMS—a fact offset by higher award rates, funding stability, and increased scientific flexibility of the MIRA program. Second, when success rates are high, the increased number of investigators who already hold funding may lead to fewer additional competing applications because funded investigators are less likely than unfunded investigators to submit applications. Continuing changes are expected in the trend of RPG applications as MIRA becomes an increasingly large percentage of the Institute’s portfolio (see below).
NIGMS Competing RPG Applications, Funded RPGs, and Success Rates
Figure 3. Number of NIGMS Competing RPG Applications, Funded RPGs, and RPG Success Rates, FY 2013-2022. The number of NIGMS RPG applications submitted in the indicated fiscal year is represented by the blue dashed line with circles (left axis). A total of 3,368 applications were submitted in FY 2022, compared to the 3,551 applications submitted in FY 2021. The number of NIGMS-funded competing RPGs in the indicated fiscal year is represented by the green solid line with squares (left axis). NIGMS funded 1,207 competing awards in FY 2022, an increase from 1,185 awards in FY 2021. The NIGMS RPG success rate (gray dotted line with triangles; right axis) is the percentage of unique reviewed project proposals that received funding. To calculate the success rate, applications for the same project submitted more than once in the same fiscal year are counted only once. The success rate of 35.8% in FY 2022 is an increase from that of FY 2021 (33.4%).
In Figure 4, we illustrate R01 applications and award distributions across the percentile range for FY 2022. At or below the 24 percentile score, 50% or more of applications were funded, whereas applications receiving above the 33rd percentile had progressively decreasing funding percentages. This trend is in line with the longstanding NIGMS practice of not using a percentile cutoff (“payline”) to make funding decisions. Some applications with highly favorable scores were not funded, in part due to considerations such as ESIs submitting both an R01 and MIRA application and receiving a MIRA, as well as cases of applicants with substantial amounts of other research support per the NIGMS funding policies.
NIGMS Competing R01 Funding Distribution by Percentile, FY 2022
Figure 4. Funding Distribution of NIGMS Competing R01 Applications by Percentile, FY 2022. Applications submitted in FY 2022 with percentile scores between the 1st and 24th percentile were funded most frequently (solid green bars), with some exceptions for higher percentile applications. Unfunded applications (striped bars) constitute the remainder of applications in the higher percentiles.
NIGMS Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award Trends
Figure 5 compares the number of R01s and MIRAs funded each year from FY 2015 to FY 2022. The representation of MIRA grants relative to R01 awards has steadily increased each year, and in FY 2022, MIRA represented 48% of the MIRA and R01 awards, an increase of 6 percentage points from the previous fiscal year. Additionally, the success rates for new MIRA applications were 46.5% for ESIs (269 awards, 579 applications) and 54.2% (154 awards, 284 applications) for established investigators (EIs), while renewal applications had a success rate of 78.9% (103 awards, 131 applications) in FY 2022. This trend indicates that investigators are increasingly applying for and receiving MIRA funding and demonstrates progress toward the NIGMS strategic plan goal of growing the pool of MIRA grants to be at least 60% of the R01-equivalent pool by FY 2025.
NIGMS Trends in R01 / MIRA R35 Awards
Figure 5. Number of NIGMS R01 and MIRA Awards, FY 2015-2022. The number of R01 awards is represented by the blue-striped bars (left axis), while the number of MIRA awards is represented by the orange bars (left axis). NIGMS awarded 2,182 R01 awards and 2,054 MIRA awards in FY 2022. The black solid line with circles (right axis) represents the share of MIRA awards relative to the overall number of R01 and MIRA awards. The number of MIRA awards has steadily increased each fiscal year. Distinct awards refer to unique funded grant numbers (e.g., R01 GM999999) in a given fiscal year. Supplements are excluded.
Finally, we explore MIRA applications from EIs and ESIs and their overall impact scores for FY 2021 to FY 2022. Currently, MIRA applications receive only overall impact scores and are not percentiled. MIRA applications shift emphasis away from specific aims and details of proposed experiments and toward the importance of the overall research questions. The review process and review criteria emphasize the potential impact of the work over details of the approach.
Although the MIRA program now comprises nearly half of the NIGMS R01 and R35 awards, when analyzed separately, the two MIRA funding opportunities have smaller numbers of competing applications and awards than our R01 portfolio. To reduce the variability in funding curves from year to year, we have combined FYs 2021 and 2022 in the subsequent figures for each funding opportunity. Figure 6 shows the distribution of overall impact scores in FY 2021 to FY 2022 for EI MIRA applications. Most applications with an overall impact score of 47 or under were funded, whereas a majority of applications receiving scores over 47 were not funded. These data mostly align with the trends observed for funding in the MIRA program in previous years.
EI MIRA Applications: FY 2021-2022
Figure 6. Number of Funded and Unfunded EI MIRA Applications by Overall Impact Score, FY 2021-2022. The funded applications are represented by the solid green bars, and the unfunded applications are represented by the striped bars. Most applications with an overall impact score of 47 or under were funded while a majority those above 47 were not. Applications with an overall impact score greater than 60 were not included on this chart.
Figure 7 shows the impact scores of ESI MIRA applications for FY 2021 to FY 2022. ESI and EI MIRA applications are reviewed separately from one another so that each group can be reviewed relative to its career stage. As illustrated in this figure, a majority of ESI MIRA applications with overall impact scores at or below 50 were funded.
ESI MIRA Applications: FY 2021-2022
Figure 7. Number of Funded and Unfunded ESI MIRA Applications by Overall Impact Score, FY 2021-2022. The funded applications are represented by the solid green bars, and the unfunded applications are represented by the striped gray bars. A majority of applications with overall impact scores at or below 50 were funded. Applications with an overall impact score greater than 60 were not included on this chart.
Looking to the current fiscal year, NIGMS received $3,239,679,000 as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY 2023, which constitutes a 4.8% growth in the Institute’s budget from the previous fiscal year. With these funds, NIGMS will continue its mission and vision of supporting basic biomedical research. We remain dedicated to providing data and analysis of trends in the Institute’s portfolio and will continue to provide updates on our Feedback Loop blog.