Project Grant: Spring 2018 Peer review participants

The peer review process relies on the time and dedication of experts across the health research spectrum. For the Spring 2018 Project Grant competition, a total of 1322 individuals* (including Chairs [57], Scientific Officers [113], reviewers [1102] and early career researcher (ECR) observers [58]) participated in 57 peer review committees.

*Note: Some individuals played multiple roles, which is why the role counts do not add up to 1322.

Approximately 74% of the committee members are members of the College of Reviewers, which has specific membership selection criteria. As a first step, CIHR staff provided lists of suggested reviewers, and then all reviewers (100%) were vetted by committee Chairs and Scientific Officers. Many of those reviewers may also meet the College selection criteria but have not yet been assessed.

Peer review participants by sex

Female Male

512 participated*

1119 invited to participate

555 accepted (50% acceptance rate)

810 participated*

1678 invited to participate

887 accepted (53% acceptance rate)

*The peer review committees for the Project Grant program are not static. This means that reviewers are invited anew for each competition. Each individual who accepts the invitation to review must complete their Conflict and Ability to Review assessment of each application in their committee. This assessment helps the committee Chair, Scientific Officers, and CIHR staff assign applications to appropriate reviewers while also taking into account each reviewer’s declared expertise and workload. This means that some individuals who accepted the invitation to review may not receive any assignments (e.g., their expertise did not match the applications in need of review, all applications within their area of expertise were already assigned, or there were not enough applications available to give them a workload that would be a meaningful use of their time). It is therefore a normal part of the process to have a difference between the number of individuals who accepted the invitation to review and the number of individuals who ultimately participated.

The figures above include the ECR observers.

Participants by region

The following table is based on the region information of the individual’s institution. The table includes all peer review participants, including ECR observers.

Region Invited Accepted Acceptance Rate Participated
British Columbia 326 148 45.4% 140
Alberta 325 177 54.5% 166
Saskatchewan 55 32 58.2% 29
Manitoba 85 34 40.0% 33
Ontario 1117 603 54.0% 555
Quebec 662 338 51.0% 303
New Brunswick 11 5 45.5% 5
Nova Scotia 93 52 57.0% 48
Prince Edward Island 1 0 0 0
Newfoundland & Labrador 28 16 57.1% 12
Northwest Territories 1 0 0 0
International 86 35 40.7% 29
No province or territory specified 7 2 28.6% 2

Participants by pillar

The following table is based on self-reported data from reviewers (not all participants provided the information). The table does not include ECR observers.

Pillar Participants Proportion
Biomedical (Pillar 1) 701 64.7%
Clinical (Pillar 2) 186 17.2%
Health systems/services (Pillar 3) 83 7.7%
Social/Cultural/Environmental/Population Health (Pillar 4) 114 10.5%

Note: The proportions of peer review participants by pillar reflect the types of applications submitted to the competition. For more information, please visit the competition results page.

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