Applicants
Guiding principles for IPR applicants.
Guiding principles for IPR applicants.
Respect your colleagues’ valuable time: arrange and maintain a mutually agreeable schedule and allow sufficient time for appropriate internal peer review to occur before the grant deadlines
Consider providing your draft application in the submission format (so that the reviewer can assess your responses in the context of the agency questions/guidelines) and/or in an editable version in which they can easily add feedback.
Make best use of both internal and external reviewers’ feedback: take time to critically assess it, with humility and fresh eyes; garner experienced colleagues’ advice in interpreting it; and respond to it appropriately in revised applications.
Acknowledge your colleagues’ efforts: thank them and let them know if you are eventually successful with the application!
To maximize both your return on investment and your reviewers’ time, here are some suggestions on how one can get the most out of internal peer review, as well as some new resources that will help you prepare for IPR.
Check out resources designed to support the planning and delivery of Mock Peer Review. The Toolkit is intended to accommodate a wide range of audiences, from university administrators looking to host a mock peer review session at their institution, to trainees, such as PhDs and postdocs, looking to learn more about CIHR’s peer review process. Learn more.
Guiding principles for IPR reviewers.
Accept invitations to review when possible and communicate with O’Brien staff when you have reached your ‘limit’ for the period in question
Dedicate the amount of time/level of detail possible, offering both high-level, strategic advice (even if it might not be addressable in the current competition timeline) and more immediately addressable suggestions on ‘grantsmanship’.
Make use of the Institute’s annual acknowledgement letter to inform your Department Head or other upward report of this valuable academic service.
Avail yourself of ‘how to be a good reviewer’ resources: review quality, review quality checklist, conducting quality reviews video, CIHR Reviewer Pathway resource