Office of Research Development

Scientific Peer Review Process

The Scientific Peer Review (SPR) process is required for all Federal funding opportunities (e.g., NIH, DHHS, CDC, NSF, AHRQ, DoD, HRSA, etc.). All investigators/researchers are required to go through the Lurie Children’s Scientific Peer Review (SPR) process before submitting a prime proposal and this requirement applies to all new and competitive renewals and resubmissions. This does not apply to subaward proposals.

An automated system has been introduced to support our Scientific Peer Review process in July 2020, which requires the PIs to use Lurie Children’s email for all communications under the SPR process.

8 Weeks Prior to Funding Agency Submission ​Deadline:

The Principal Investigator (PI) will notify the Scientific Peer Review Administrator of their intention to submit a grant for an upcoming submission deadline. The submission of the Scientific Peer Review Request Form​ will alert the SPR Administrator and the OSP contact of your intention to submit and initiate the process of selecting a reviewer.

The PI’s Lurie Children’s email is required for all communications under the Scientific Peer Review process.

Please note that this form must be completed all at once (i.e., cannot be saved for continued submission at a later date), the following information is required at submission:

  1. The project category to choose for the proposal (Basic-Pre clinical, Translational-Clinical, or Population Health-Health Policy). For questions regarding the project category, please contact SPR at scientificreview@luriechildrens.org prior to SPR Request form submission.
  2. Three recommended reviewers.
  3. The Project Abstract and/or Specific Aims ready for upload.

Upon the form submission, PI will receive confirmation emails to their Lurie Children's email address about every step of the approval process. Emails may come from three different email addresses: Microsoft Forms, Microsoft Flow, scientificreview, depending on each scenario.

If the eight-week submission deadline has passed, please proceed with the form below and next steps will be provided via email from Microsoft (MS) Flow following submission of this form. Find more information in Exemption Policy and Waivers.

6 Weeks Prior to Funding Agency Submission Deadline:

Upload Grant Materials

After the SPR request form is approved by the Scientific Peer Review Administrator, the PI will receive instructions on how, where and when to upload SPR Grant Materials.

The PI is required to provide the following:

  1. Proposal/project title​
  2. Specific aims/abstract
  3. Research strategy/research plan 

Additional items are required if the proposal falls into any of the following scenarios:

  • If this is a resubmission, please include:
    • Federal reviewer's critiques
    • Introduction to application/response to reviewer critiques
  • If this is a multi-PI proposal, please include:
    • Multiple PI leadership plan
  • If this is a K proposal, please include
    • Career development plan

Optional: The PI may optionally include other relevant grant documents if desired, such as clinical trial safety plan, human subjects, etc.

After the upload form submission, the PI will receive confirmation emails to their Lurie Children's email address for every step of the approval process.

2 We​eks Prior to Agency Submission Deadline:

The review administrator will forward the review feedback to the PI and the Division/Department Chair.