Guidelines
Under the External Peer Review program, The Office of Research Development (ORD) will organize and fund one external peer review of a near-final draft of a proposal by faculty for external funding. The goal of the External Peer Review program is to help researchers obtain quality, actionable feedback on their proposals prior to submission to an external funding agency, strengthen the merits of the proposal, and improve the likelihood of acceptance for funding. This program is intended to be used in conjunction with services from ORD.
To participate in the External Peer Review program, a PI must provide ORD with the names and affiliations of 2-3 potential external content experts to review their proposal. ORD will evaluate these suggestions and may recommend additional experts for review. Once the PI has approved the list of reviewers, ORD will facilitate and fund one external review of each proposal that meets the eligibility criteria listed below. Larger, collaborative proposals may be eligible for two or more reviewers on a case-by-case basis. All reviewers should be located in the United States due to tax limitations.
External reviewers will provide a written critique of each proposal’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as its overall impact and significance to the field. ORD will provide the reviewers with the sponsor’s review criteria for each solicitation and ask that reviewers provide feedback that aligns with those criteria. External reviewers will receive an honorarium of $200-500 for completing the written review process. The exact funding amount will be determined by ORD after consultation with the PI based on the scope of the requested review. Additional compensation may be available if more extensive feedback, such as a virtual meeting or multiple email exchanges, are needed.
Eligibility
- All faculty who are eligible to be principal investigators (PI) may utilize this program.
- One request per PI is allowed per fiscal year.
- Only proposals that will be submitted through Syracuse University are eligible for this program.
- The requesting Syracuse University faculty member must be lead PI on the proposal.
- Research project proposals to federal funding agencies, such as the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, the Department of Education, National Endowment for the Humanities, and similar are eligible for this program.
- A full proposal narrative must be available for the review. This program is not available for pre-proposals or concept papers.
Proposals which fall outside these guidelines maybe eligible on a case-by-case basis as determined by ORD. Contact resdev@syr.edu with questions.
Timeline
| At least 6 weeks prior to sponsor deadline | Faculty request peer review from ORD via request form. |
| At least 5 weeks prior to sponsor deadline | Faculty submit draft for internal ORD feedback before it is sent for external review. This is a standard RD review for grantsmanship. |
| At least 4 weeks prior to sponsor deadline | Faculty provide a near-final draft of the narrative and any other section they would like reviewed. |
| At least 2 weeks prior to sponsor deadline | External peer reviewer returns feedback and ORD staff provide review to the faculty member. |
| Sponsor deadline | Faculty agree to read, consider, and where appropriate, incorporate reviewers’ comments and suggestions. |
Information required to request an external review
- Full proposal narrative
- Name of funding agency
- Direct link to a copy of solicitation
- Sponsor deadline
- Total budget estimated for the funding period
- Names and contact information for 2-3 external content experts
If you would like to request an external review, please submit this Request Form.