Proposal Review
Be a Peer Reviewer
Help to ensure the validity and integrity of criminal justice research by becoming a peer reviewer for NIJ.
On this page learn about:
- Grant Application Peer Review
- Standing Scientific Review Panel Pilot Project — New in 2012
- Unsolicited Proposals
Grant Application Peer Review
Proposals received under a solicitation are reviewed by independent peer panels comprised of reviewers from academia, industry, and government organizations, along with practitioners from federal, state, and local agencies. Once reviewers have completed evaluations, NIJ Program Managers recommend individual proposals to the NIJ Director, who makes final award decisions.
Learn more about NIJ's current peer review process in sections "III. Conflict of Interest — Peer Review" and "IV. Peer Reviewers Final Scores and Consensus Review" of Guidelines on the Administration and Management of NIJ Grant Programs (pdf, 23 pages).
Standing Scientific Review Panel Pilot Project — New in 2012
For fiscal year 2012, in addition to current review activity, we are piloting new Scientific Review Panels to provide external scientific peer reviews for research applications submitted to NIJ. The Scientific Review Panels will be "standing panels" to which reviewers are appointed to serve for three years. Each Scientific Review Panel will comprise 15 scientific reviewers and three practitioner reviewers who will meet in person each year to review research proposals. Individual Scientific Review Panels will be established to support the social, physical and forensic science programs of NIJ.
Unsolicited Proposals
Although you may submit unsolicited proposals, you are discouraged from doing so unless you have discussed the concept with NIJ staff and been asked to submit a proposal that does not fit into a specific solicitation. Unsolicited proposals may receive either an external peer review or an internal review. If the proposal fits into an already established solicitation category, it will be returned with a recommendation to resubmit it under that solicitation.
