Integrity and Confidentiality in NIH Peer Review Maintaining

Integrity and Confidentiality in NIH Peer Review § Maintaining integrity- including confidentiality and security - in the peer review process is essential for • Exchanging scientific opinions and evaluations without fear of reprisal. • Protecting trade secrets or other proprietary, sensitive and/or confidential information. • Providing reliable input to the agency about research projects to support. • Maintaining public trust in science. § NIH takes maintaining confidentiality throughout the peer review process seriously – Statement on Protecting the Integrity of U. S. Biomedical Research – NOT-OD-14 -073 (Maintaining Confidentiality in NIH Peer Review) – NOT-OD-18 -115 (Maintaining Integrity in NIH Peer Review: Responsibilities and Consequences) 1

Integrity and Confidentiality in NIH Peer Review § By signing the NIH Confidentiality Certification, reviewers agree to comply with NIH confidentiality rules and not engage in the following prohibited actions with anyone who has not been officially designated to participate in the peer review process. 1. Sharing applications or meeting materials. 2. Granting access to any NIH secure computer system. 3. Disclosing information to anyone, including a panel member who has a declared conflict of interest with that application, about the committee deliberations, discussions, evaluations, or documents. 4. Using information contained in an application for his/her personal benefit or making such information available for the personal benefit of any other individual or organization. 2

Integrity and Confidentiality in NIH Peer Review § Possible Consequences If the NIH determines that a situation involves a breach of integrity (including confidentiality and/or security) in the peer review process, the NIH in coordination with other offices may take action(s) including, but not limited to: • Notifying the individuals and institutions involved. • Terminating the reviewer’s service in peer review. • Pursuing a referral for government-wide suspension or debarment. • Referring the matter to the NIH Office of Management Assessment and possibly to the Office of Inspector General, U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, to determine if more serious consequences should be implemented. 3

Conflict of Interest § Situations that create conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflict of interest are described in the pre-meeting COI documents. § Check for potential conflicts of interest (or appearances of conflicts) and alert the SRO immediately of any conflicts of which you are aware. § A waiver is required for a conflicted reviewer to participate. During the meeting, if a reviewer has a conflict of interest with any application, the reviewer must leave the room during evaluation and scoring of that application. § In signing the post-review certification, each reviewer certifies that he/she did not participate in an evaluation of any applications with which he/she knowingly had a conflict of interest. 4

Conflict of Interest (COI) § Contact us immediately if you discover a new potential conflict of interest. 5

Unconscious Bias in Peer Review • Unconscious bias: an implicit attitude, stereotype, motivation or assumption that can occur without one’s knowledge, control or intention – even the most well-intentioned people experience some degree of unconscious bias • Types of bias that can impact peer review include: • • • False correlations Confirmation bias In-group preferences Racial/ethnic bias Gender/sexual orientation bias Institutional bias Age bias Cultural preconceptions Geographic preconceptions Language presumptions 6

Unconscious Bias in Peer Review § Mitigating unconscious bias in peer review • Greater awareness and educational interventions are effective in reducing bias and lead to an improved review process. • Tips for minimizing the influence of bias and assumptions – Learn about unconscious bias and its impact on peer review and use the additional resources in next slide (follow the hyperlinks and review related chapter in the “Reviewer Manual” in “Meeting Materials” folder of IAR). – Periodically evaluate your judgments and consider whether unconscious biases may influence your decisions. – Spend sufficient time evaluating each application. – Maintain your standard and apply the criteria consistently to all applications throughout the review process. – Evaluate each individual’s entire application. Don't rely too heavily on only one element of the application to evaluate an applicant. 7

Unconscious Bias in Peer Review Additional Resources • Unconscious bias (Office of the Director Scientific Workforce Division/NIH) • NIH Peer Review Overview (Office of Extramural Research/NIH) • Research Integrity (Office of Extramural Research/NIH) • Minimizing Bias in Peer Review (“Reviewer Manual”, IAR) 8