Common Problems Identified During Peer Review

Below is a list of many common problems that result in non-competitively scored applications.

• Uncertainty whether research will produce significant information.
• Scientific basis not fully developed.
• No apparent translatability of research into practice or policy.
• Lack of a theoretical framework.
• Overly ambitious research plan; volume of proposed work unrealistic.
• Lack of original ideas.
• Proposed methods not appropriate to answer research questions.
• Research issues are more complex than investigator describes.
• Too little detail in the research plan (leads to reviewers questioning investigators' ability to carry out the research).
• Lack of focus in study hypotheses, aims and/or research plan.
• Lack of generalizability of findings or methods.
• Investigator lacks expertise in methodology.
• Study team lacks expertise in all needed areas.
• Proposed time and effort of study team members insufficient.
• Lack of study controls.
• Lack of adequate preliminary data.
• Insufficient consideration of statistical needs.
• Inadequate attention to protection of human subjects and/or population representation.
• Lack of complete literature review.

Current as of February 2005

Internet Citation:

Common Problems Identified During Peer Review. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/fund/peerprob.htm