Peer Review: Reforms Needed to Ensure Fairness in Federal Agency Grant
Selection (Chapter Report, 06/24/94, GAO/PEMD-94-1).

Federal agencies throughout the government use peer review to evaluate
research and other projects proposed for federal funding. Although peer
review in principle has broad support, a long history of controversy has
accompanied how it is practiced. The most contentious debates have
centered on whether existing systems provide fair, impartial review of
proposals. GAO examined grant selection in three federal agencies that
use peer review: the National Institutes of Health, the National Science
Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. This report
focuses on the extent to which fairness problems occurred in three
areas--the selection of peer reviewers, the scoring of proposals by
reviewers, and the final funding decisions of agencies.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  PEMD-94-1
     TITLE:  Peer Review: Reforms Needed to Ensure Fairness in Federal 
             Agency Grant Selection
      DATE:  06/24/94
   SUBJECT:  Scientific research
             Grant administration
             Evaluation criteria
             Grant award procedures
             Research grants
             Conflict of interest
             Advisory committees
             Federal aid for the humanities

             
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