The National Institutes of Health, the largest provider of basic research money for universities in the United States, has long struggled with both the reality and the perception of bias in its grant awards.
Over the years, it has taken steps to help black researchers, scientists at lower-prestige institutions, and those offering riskier proposals. It has tried to keep personal idiosyncrasies, financial conflicts, and opaque methodologies from skewing its grant-making processes.
Now, for the first time, the agency is considering a relatively simple step that might help resolve many of those problems: anonymity.
To read the original article: NIH Considers Anonymity for Grant Applicants - Research - The Chronicle of Higher Education
