Overall Impact Score

Also called: Priority score

The overall impact score is NIH reviewers' rating of how likely a project is to exert a sustained, powerful influence on its research field, scored from 1 (exceptional) to 9 (poor).

For most research project grant applications due on or after January 25, 2025, NIH uses a simplified review framework. It reorganizes the five regulatory criteria (Significance, Investigators, Innovation, Approach, Environment) into three factors: Importance of the Research, Rigor and Feasibility, and Expertise and Resources.

Factors 1 and 2 are scored from 1 to 9, and Factor 3 is judged as either sufficient for the proposed research or not. The overall impact score reflects the reviewers' judgment of scientific merit based on an integration of the factor scores, and an application does not need to be strong in every category.

For a discussed application, the final score is the mean of eligible members' scores multiplied by 10, so final scores run from 10 (high impact) to 90 (low impact). Applications that are not discussed do not receive a numerical final score.

In August 2026 NIH asked for public comment (NOT-OD-26-088) on a proposal to report outcomes as one of three impact categories: Most Competitive, Competitive or Not Discussed.