Justification for Selected Instructions

Change Request Justification for Select Instructions in 0925-0001

1. Biosketch Format and Instructions

Form Section Being Modified

Background and Description of Change

Personal Statement Positions and Honors Contributions to Science Research Support

Consolidation of separate Career and Fellowship biosketch instructions into the General biosketch instructions. Extensive changes for clarity- Using shorter sentences, bullets and shorter paragraphs Integrating instructions for institutional research training, institutional career development, or research education grant applications into the main biosketch instructions Clarifying that the URL for a publication list is optional (as always intended, and conveyed in the FAQ) Clarifications to ensure junior applicants can better describe their productivity Clarifying that research products can include conference proceedings such as meeting abstracts, posters or other presentations Clarifying that people can mention in-progress products (e.g. manuscripts under review) in the narrative for Section C, but not cite them as one of their citations These citations do not have to be authored by you, but do have to be relevant to your contribution. Policy/instruction tweaks: Minimize overstuffing Disallowing inclusion of graphics, figures and tables (also not supported by SciENcv) Adding overstuffing warnings to Sections A and C Requesting people add other names that used to author research products in section A Citation instructions Adding research products as allowable citations to section A to correspond with their allowance in Section C Allowing non-peer reviewed publications to be included to correspond with the allowance of other non-peer reviewed research products (from ‘reference up to four peer-reviewed publications or other non-publication research products’ to ‘cite up to four publications or research products’) Deleting the requirement that the past 3 years of research support are listed in order of relevance. This requirement adds complexity for the applicant and systems, while not adding much benefit to the reviewer. If applicant provides a URL to their publications, it must be on a federal (.gov) website See Attachment A for revised text.

Form Section Being Modified	Background and Description of Change
Personal Statement Position and Honors Contributions to Science Research Support
	Consolidation of separate Career and Fellowship biosketch instructions into the General biosketch instructions. Extensive changes for clarity- Using shorter sentences, bullets and shorter paragraphs Integrating instructions for institutional research training, institutional career development, or research education grant applications into the main biosketch instructions Clarifying that the URL for a publication list is optional (as always intended, and conveyed in the FAQ) Clarifications to ensure junior applicants can better describe their productivity Clarifying that research products can include conference proceedings such as meeting abstracts, posters or other presentations Clarifying that people can mention in-progress products (e.g. manuscripts under review) in the narrative for Section C, but not cite them as one of their citations These citations do not have to be authored by you, but do have to be relevant to your contribution. Policy/instruction tweaks: Minimize overstuffing Disallowing inclusion of graphics, figures and tables (also not supported by SciENcv) Adding overstuffing warnings to Sections A and C Requesting people add other names that used to author research products in section A Citation instructions Adding research products as allowable citations to section A to correspond with their allowance in Section C Allowing non-peer reviewed publications to be included to correspond with the allowance of other non-peer reviewed research products (from ‘reference up to four peer-reviewed publications or other non-publication research products’ to ‘cite up to four publications or research products’) Deleting the requirement that the past 3 years of research support are listed in order of relevance. This requirement adds complexity for the applicant and systems, while not adding much benefit to the reviewer. If applicant provides a URL to their publications, it must be on a federal (.gov) website See Attachment A for revised text.