Am J Psychiatry 1977; 134:637-641
Copyright © 1977 by American Psychiatric Association
An examination of the federal psychiatric training grant peer review process
CB Wilkinson and VI Reus
The authors present some of the criticisms that have been leveled against
the federal peer review system of approving or disapproving monetary
grants. They then summarize the process used by the National Institute of
Mental Health's Psychiatry Education Branch to judge grant applications,
focusing on the disposition of 527 applications reviewed in November
1974-January 1975. They found that the wide distribution of the reviewers
by geography, subspecialty, experience, sex, and ethnicity, plus the steps
taken to guard against bias and ensure fairness, were effective, refuting
many of the criticisms of the group peer review process.
