Summary Statement

Also called: NIH summary statement

The summary statement is the official NIH document from peer review, giving the reviewers' written critiques, criterion scores, the outcome, and a summary of any panel discussion.

The Scientific Review Officer prepares the summary statement after the study section meets, and applicants read it in eRA Commons. It includes the assigned reviewers' written critiques, the SRO's summary of the discussion, scores for each review criterion and administrative notes.

Applications that are not discussed still receive the written critiques from the assigned reviewers, but there is no summary of discussion.

Under NIH's temporary review changes, summary statements are simplified. Instead of narrative paragraphs, the discussion summary gives one sentence on how much the committee agreed and bullets listing the main points that drove the score.

You must receive the summary statement before you can submit a resubmission, and the resubmission's introduction must respond to the weaknesses it raises.