Submit & Manage Critiques, Scores

Reviewers have to submit critiques and scores electronically for assigned applications during the Submit and Edit phases in IAR. Reviewers may also submit critiques and scores for applications that they are not assigned.

Note that reviewers will be unable to submit critiques and scores if they have not signed their pre-meeting conflict of interest certification in IAR. An alert will notify reviewers and they will need to click a link to go ahead and certify the pre-meeting COI before they can submit critiques and scores.

IMPORTANT: The instructions below are for critiques submitted on Microsoft Word critique templates. For meetings with online critiques, please see the Fill Out and Submit Online Critiques webpage.

Basic Tasks (step-by-step instructions and screenshots)*

• Locating Word critique templates — Microsoft Word templates can be found in IAR’s meeting materials folder, or by clicking on the application’s ‘Critique Template’ link on the List of All Applications screen. Reviewers can also download all critique templates for all applications specifically assigned to them by using the zip file link on the List of My Assigned Applications screen or the List of All Applications screen (See Reviewers: Locating Critique Template link in IAR). If you have any questions, please contact your SRO.
• How to submit critiques and scores

Note: Only Word documents (doc, docx) can be uploaded, not pdfs

• How to delete scores and critiques

* You must be logged into IAR via eRA Commons with appropriate role(s) to complete these activities. 

Main Screenshots

Note: Screenshots may vary depending on the meeting configuration and meeting phase. Contact your SRO if you have questions.

Figure 1: The submit link is accessed by clicking he three-dot ellipses icon in the Role column on the List of My Assigned Applications screen and choosing the Submit Critique option. The link takes the reviewer to the Submit Critique and Preliminary Score screen.

Figure 2: The Submit Critique and Preliminary Score screen

Additional Resources

• Reviewers: Submitting Critiques and Preliminary Scores (Video; 4:11 minutes)
  This tutorial walks reviewers through submitting critiques and preliminary scores in the IAR module.

Policy Links   

• NIH Scoring System and Procedure (PDF)
• Additional Scoring Guidance for NIH Research Applications (PDF)
• NIH Additional Scoring Guidance: Applications for Fellowships, Career Awards, and Institutional Training Grants (PDF)