Grant review for any grant proposal

For any funder other than NIH

You give us the funding announcement: a link on the order form, or the file on your upload page. That can be the NOFO, the solicitation, the request for proposals or the foundation's guidelines. The critique is measured against what that document says.

• The review criteria, funding priorities, required sections and page or word limits the announcement states, each shown with the line it comes from.
• Strengths and weaknesses under each stated criterion. Every weakness points to the passage of your proposal it is about.
• The changes most likely to matter, each one an analysis, a piece of evidence, a plan or a clarification.
• If the announcement doesn't state review criteria, we say so, and the critique uses the priorities and required sections it does state. Nothing is invented to fill the gap.

For an NIH resubmission

• You upload the summary statement and your application: the version that was reviewed, your revised draft, or both.
• Every critique sorted into one of three. “The reviewers missed it”: the answer is already in the application. “We were unclear”: it's there, but a reviewer couldn't find it or read it the way you meant. “A real flaw”: something in the science or the plan has to change.
• The fixes ranked by the review criterion each one moves. A fix is an analysis, a piece of data, a plan or a citation. It is never replacement text.
• A plan for the one-page Introduction: which critiques get space, in what order, and what evidence answers each. You write it.

For a new NIH application

A critique before you submit, against the criteria NIH scores your mechanism on.

• For F31 and F32 fellowships, the three fellowship criteria: Candidate's Preparedness and Potential, Research Training Plan, and Commitment to Candidate.
• For R01 and R21, the simplified review framework: Factor 1, Importance of the Research; Factor 2, Rigor and Feasibility; and Factor 3, Expertise and Resources.
• For K awards and other NIH mechanisms, the review criteria in their notice of funding opportunity.
• Strengths and weaknesses under each criterion, and the changes most likely to matter.

Every review

• We flag any reference we can't locate or that has been retracted.
• Page limits and required sections checked against the rules for your grant.
• One re-check of your revised proposal is included. When you have revised it, upload the new version on the same page, any time before your deadline, and we check whether it answers the points in your review.

1. Choose the type of grant and enter your email. Name the funder and, if you have it, paste the link to the announcement. Pay on Stripe.
2. You go straight to a private upload page for your order. The same link comes in your confirmation email. Upload your proposal, and the announcement file if you didn't give a link. PDF or Word is fine.
3. Your review comes back by email within 3 business days of your upload. Every review is checked for accuracy before it's sent.
4. Revise, then upload the new version on the same page to request your re-check. It comes back within the same 3 business days.

If the application you upload doesn't match the review you chose, we'll email you before we start.

For its January, May and October 2026 councils, NIH cut the share of applications discussed in most review meetings to about a third (30 to 35%), down from about half. A discussed application's summary statement gives one sentence on how far the panel agreed and a few bullets, in place of a written summary of the discussion (NOT-OD-26-069). The rest get three written critiques and no discussion.

Discussed or not, working out which critiques matter is left to you. That's the first thing the sort does.

• It doesn't write any part of your application. NIH has said it won't consider applications substantially developed by AI to be the applicant's original ideas (NOT-OD-25-132), and other funders set their own rules. So you get critique, and every fix says what to answer, not what to write.
• No score, and no prediction of whether you'll be discussed or funded.
• It isn't read by NIH reviewers or program officers, or by anyone at any other funder. No funder has any part in it.
• For a grant outside NIH, it is only as complete as the announcement you give us. It doesn't look up the funder's other pages or past awards.

Anyone writing a grant proposal: researchers, trainees, small businesses, nonprofits and the offices that support them. Ordering for a team or a research office? Place one order per proposal, with the email the review should go to.

Need a written quote or an invoice, for FEMA AFG reimbursement or university purchasing? Email erik@manusights.com and we'll send one.