A process by which a small number of reviewers assess the quality of a number of grant application, with the goal of identifying those applications which should receive a review by the entire panel of reviewers ( and thereby remain in consideration for funding). This procedure is used on Institute of Education Sciences grants.
Triage of Applications
Institute of Education Sciences,
Procedures for Peer Review of Grant Applications
January 24, 2006
To facilitate the discussion by the full panel of the most competitive applications, the Institute generally employs a system of triaging applications so that only the most competitive applications are discussed and scored by the full panel at the panel review meeting. Determination of the most competitive applications is based on the preliminary rank order of the average overall scores of the applications.
Average Overall Score Report. Based on the overall scores assigned by primary reviewers, an average overall score for each application is calculated and is used to generate a preliminary rank order of applications. The Institute asks all reviewers to submit their scores and critiques of the applications 10 business days prior to the panel meeting so that the determination of the applications to be considered at the panel meeting is completed with sufficient time for reviewers to become familiar with any of the applications for which they were not a primary reviewer.
Triage Cut Point. In general, the triage cut point is set so that the full panel discusses about 25 applications. Triage cut points may vary across competitions when a panel reviews applications for more than one competition.
Complete description of IES procedures