NHPRC Application Review Process
We're always looking for experts in their field to serve as peer reviewers. If you're interested in serving on an application review panel, please match your expertise with our grant programs and contact the program officer(s) in charge by email with a brief résumé attached.
Summary of the Review Process
- Application: Applicant uses notice of funding announcement on Grants.gov to prepare materials for submission. Applicant submits application package to Grants.gov by deadline.
- Eligibility Review: NHPRC staff review each application for completeness and eligibility. Incomplete and/or ineligible applications will not be considered.
- Panel Review: NHPRC staff assemble peer review panels. These panels of knowledgeable persons from outside the NHPRC read each application and advise the agency about its merits.
- Applicant Response: Following the panel review, applicants will receive a copy of the anonymous peer reviewer comments and have an opportunity to respond. Applicants have an opportunity to respond.
- Staff Recommendation: Using peer review evaluations and the applicant responses, and in light of available funds, NHPRC staff recommends applications to the Commission for further consideration.
- Commission Recommendation: The full Commission, which normally meets twice a year, reviews all staff recommendations and applications and makes its formal funding recommendations to the NHPRC chairman.
- Chair Decision: NHPRC chairman takes into account the advice provided by the review process and, by law, makes all funding decisions. All levels of the review process prior to the Archivist’s decision are advisory.
- Notification: Applicants are notified whether their projects will be funded.
Review Process in Detail
Panel Review
The review process stands at the center of the NHPRC’s work. Following the initial eligibility review, program officers work to recruit outside experts in the relevant areas to serve as peer review panelists.
Commission staff members assign applications and individual reviewers to panels based on subject area, academic discipline, institutional type, project area, or project type. Staff typically assigns no more than ten applications and five evaluators per panel. In assembling a panel, program officers select evaluators for their expertise in the relevant disciplines, topics, and areas. Other considerations may include the type of institution the prospective evaluator represents, their past panel experience, or other demographic characteristics. It is important to note that no evaluator may serve in consecutive years for the same grant program or on more than one panel per application cycle.
The Commission provides evaluators with online access to the applications for several weeks. At this stage, the evaluators read the applications, enter their written comments, and assign ratings based on the percentages in the evaluation criteria included in each Notice of Funding Opportunity. In cases of a conflict of interest, evaluators must recuse themselves. All reviews and ratings must be based on the Commission's published review criteria and program guidelines. (Since the review criteria may vary from program to program, applicants should consult the criteria of the grant program to which they are applying.) Finally, for each panel, NHPRC staff host a live panel discussion at the end of which, panelists are given an opportunity to finalize their comments and ratings.
The Commission's grant programs are administered by its staff. Following the peer review stage, Commission staff organizes and analyzes the reviewers' comments, and considers the appropriateness of the project toward fulfilling Commission goals, as well as an application's completeness and conformity to application requirements. Staff will also share anonymous versions of reviewers' written comments with all applicants for their response. Based on the peer reviewers' ratings and comments and the applicant’s response, as well as available funding, staff makes preliminary recommendations to the Commission for further consideration as to which proposals to fund. The staff's recommendations and all supporting materials are made available to Commission members in advance of each meeting through a secure online portal.
The National Historical Publications and Records Commission is a 15-member advisory body, chaired by the Archivist of the United States, and composed of representatives of the three branches of the Federal government, two presidential appointees, and the representatives of professional associations of archivists, historians, documentary editors, and records administrators. The Commission usually meets twice a year in Washington, DC, for the purpose of advising the Archivist regarding Commission policy, grant programs, and making recommendations on grant proposals.
The Commission meetings are a full day in length and occur in May and November. Meetings consist of sessions open to the public when matters of policy and strategy are discussed and grantees and others may be scheduled make presentations. There is also a closed session, when Commission members, having reviewed relevant application materials beforehand, discuss individual applications and vote on the final slate of applications formally recommended to the Chairman for funding. By law, the Commission is required to review all applications for financial support, and the Archivist may not approve or disapprove of applications until he or she has considered the Commission’s advice and recommendations.
As Commission chair, the Archivist of the United States gives the final approval and authorization for all grant awards within the limits of available, appropriated, and donated funds, and after considering the advice and recommendations of the Commission.
Transparency and Confidentiality at the NHPRC
The NHPRC seeks to make its application, review, and award processes as transparent as possible, while protecting the confidentiality of applicants, evaluators, staff, and Commission members. The NHPRC announces on its website and via press release the names of award winners in each program for each grant cycle; the NHPRC does not announce the names of unfunded applicants. All applicants receive reviewers' comments during the course of the application review process and may also inquire with Commission staff for any general comments on their application.
The Commission welcomes your questions, suggestions, and comments about its review process. Please send your comments to nhprc@nara.gov .