REMINDER for Upcoming October and November NIH Deadlines
It is that time of year again when the next NIH submission cycle is quickly approaching. We know the main dates: October 5, October 16, November 5, and November 16. With this, we again remind the research community of our proposal submission policy. If we take for example the October 5th deadline, in order to adhere to the proposal submission policy, all administrative components of the proposal should be submitted to our office by Friday 9/28 (5 business days prior to the deadline) and complete and final proposal submitted to our office by Tuesday 10/2 (3 business days prior to the deadline). Observing the proposal submission policy not only allows us adequate time to conduct a thorough review of each proposal, it also allows us to triage and prioritize the large number of proposals submitted to our office during this time.
In the last quarter of FY18, BU Sponsored programs submitted 593 proposals. Seventy-five percent (75%) of the proposals with deadlines were non-compliant with the proposal submission policy, and over a third were finalized and/or received the day of the deadline. The high volume compounded with the lateness of the submissions does not allow our office to conduct even a basic review or guarantee a successful submission. Please keep in mind the lessons learned from the June deadlines where two proposals missed the 5pm deadline due to unexpected system issues. To ensure your proposal is successfully submitted you must adhere to BU’s proposal submission policy.