Ten Steps to a Winning R01 Application

For your R01 application to succeed, it must meld a highly significant and innovative topic with iron-clad feasibility. NIH calls that combination "impact"—which is reflected in an application's peer review results: its overall impact score.

When evaluating your application, your reviewers will ask: could the project move the field forward without being too risky? Could you accomplish it within the time and resources at your disposal?

The steps below give you a roadmap for designing a high-impact project that will stand out in peer review.

Note: We're updating the steps on this page based on a series of NIAID Funding Newsletter articles. As each article comes out, we'll update the corresponding section below.

Table of Contents

• Ten Steps—Outlined
• Step 1: Conduct a Self Evaluation
• Step 2: Find Your Niche
• Step 3: Draft Specific Aims
• Step 4: Identify a Study Section
• Step 5: Size Up Your Specific Aims
• Step 6: Outline Your Experiments
• Step 7: Build Your Team
• Step 8: Define Resources
• Step 9: Nail Your Budget
• Step 10: Write to Excite

Ten Steps—Outlined

If you are a new investigator or entering a new field, start at the beginning. If you are continuing your research, begin with Step 3.

1. Conduct a self evaluation. Assess what field of research you best qualify for. To apply for an R01, you'll need significant experience and publications (first or last author) in your field—an area of science like AIDS or TB vaccines or a technology, such as imaging or bioinformatics.

To make sure your reviewers agree, evaluate your training, publications, and presentations at scientific meetings.

For more on this topic, read:

• Step 1: Conduct a Self Evaluation below
• Ready for Independent Support? in Part 1. Qualify for NIH Funding.
• New Investigator Guide to NIH Funding

2. Find a niche. Now that your self evaluation is done, you're ready to identify your own niche in your field.

Your niche is the specialized area in your field (for example, understanding the immune evasion of TB) where you will conduct research and create new knowledge for the next several years. Get our take on finding your niche in:

• Step 2: Find Your Niche below
• Pick a Research Project in Part 2. Pick and Design a Project.

3. Draft two to four (three is most common) Specific 

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