Research Development Proposal Support – OR Peer/Expert Review Process

 


Office of Research (OR) Peer/Expert Review Process:

 

 
    The Research Development team coordinates internal and external peer reviews for grant proposals submitted by UCF faculty researchers upon request. These services are intended for Principal Investigators (PIs) who are submitting proposals with UCF as the lead organization.

    The PI can provide the names of potential reviewers or the Research Development team can help identify UCF faculty with subject matter expertise and/or prior awards with the sponsoring organization.

    The InfoReady portal is used for PIs to submit review requests and for reviewers to provide comments.

    The PI and the reviewer are not required to meet as part of the peer review process. However, if desired, it is often beneficial to the PI and the reviewer to have a virtual or in-person meeting to discuss the proposal and review comments.

    To request a peer review, please apply through the InfoReady portal.

    Principal Investigator Responsibilities

    It is the responsibility of the PI to provide the documents to the reviewers by the agreed upon date to allow adequate time for review and for the PI to address comments. It is preferred if all documents are provided in Microsoft Word format to enable use of track changes.

    Reviewer Responsibilities

    Reviewers will be provided with a review template but are not required to use it. The reviewer is however expected to provide timely, detailed, and constructive feedback to the PI. It is expected that substantive comments are provided using the following as a general guideline, as well as keeping the specific criteria in the request for proposal in mind:
 
  • Eligibility/Fit: Assess whether the funding mechanism is appropriate for the PI, including eligibility based on stage of career, prior funding, and scope/theme of project.

  • Overview: Does the investigator have enough internal and/or external support to be competitive for this project? In areas of obvious intellectual or technical weakness, does the investigator include letters of collaboration from experts in those fields?

  • Significance and Innovation: What is the significance of the proposal does it justify the need for the proposal work? What is innovative about this proposal? For NSF proposals, does the proposal adequately address the Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts criteria?

  • Project Description: Does this section outline the general plan of work, including the broad design of activities to be undertaken, and provide a clear description of experimental methods and procedures, where appropriate? Did the PI address what they want to do, why they want to do it, how they plan to do it, how they will know if they succeed, and what benefits could accrue if the project is successful? Is there a logical, detailed timeline for the proposed studies?
Timeline for Internal/External Proposal Review

  • 5 weeks prior to sponsor deadline, draft proposal is due for review
  • 3 weeks prior to sponsor deadline, review comments due to PI
  • 5 business days prior to sponsor deadline (required), proposal due to Office of Research
Peer Review -

 

  • The Research Development team can identify internal reviewers that will have the experience and expertise to provide a relevant peer review if the PI does not suggest any reviewers.
  • The PI is required to provide reviewer names and contact information for an external review.

Honorarium for External Reviewer -

UCF PIs (not postdocs or adjunct faculty) may request one $300 honorarium per fiscal year for an external review of their proposal or for the use of a science/grant writer. PIs are encouraged to contact their department for matching the honorarium funds. There is a limit of 10 total honorariums that will be paid by the Office of Research for external reviews/grant writing services each fiscal year and they are awarded on a first come, first served basis.

The Research Development team will contact the external reviewer/science or grant writer and coordinate the review. Once the PI notifies our office that the review is complete and comments have been received in a timely manner, our office will initiate the honorarium payment to the reviewer/writer.

To request an internal or external peer review, please apply through the InfoReady portal.

 


DISCLAIMER:  Please note the internal peer review services offered by the Research Development team are different from the research administration review that is provided by Research Administrators in the Office of Research. That review is the required standard finalization process for all proposal submissions by UCF investigators.

 

 

 

 

 

For more information, please contact: ResDev@ucf.edu