roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) (02/21/90)
One of our faculty members had a grant administratively rejected by
NIH because, claims NIH, the guidelines for type size had been violated.
They specify 10 to 12 point type, no more than 15 characters per inch. This
grant was done using troff, in Times Roman 10 on an Apple LaserWriter, which
is what most grants around here get done in. Turns out, however, that Times
Roman 10 gives you an average of about 16-1/2 characters per inch.
Apparantly somebody at NIH sits there with a ruler and counts
characters. I suppose one could debate at length the wisdom of being so
finicky about this, but the important thing is that they are and people
should be aware that they do take this seriously and size their type
accordingly. OBTW, they did agree to accept the grant for the same deadline
if we would print it out again in a larger size and get it back to them in a
couple of days, so I guess they are being reasonable about this.
--
Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute
455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016
roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu -OR- {att,philabs,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy
"My karma ran over my dogma"roy@phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) (02/23/90)
In an earlier note, I discussed a recent case where a grant was
rejected by NIH because the type was too small. Rereading what I wrote, I
realize my written words were harsher than intended. I sympathize with
reviewers who have to read microscopic type, and understand the conflicting
goals of saving paper, saving eyes, and fully describing the proposed
research.
The intent of my original note was not to flame NIH, but to warn
grant writers to take care to make sure they meet the type specs. Some
people, I'm sure, intentionally use tiny type in an effort to cram every
last word into the page count. In this case, however, it was a totally
honest mistake by somebody who probably wasn't even aware that you could
change the type size using our word processing system, or at best probably
read the "10 to 12 point" requirement, noted (or, more likely, was told)
that the default size was 10, and let it go without any further thought.
Since NIH agreed to take it back after reprinting in a larger size, no
lasting harm was done. Just a bit of mental anguish, which will pass.
I'm looking forward to the day when submission of grants by email is
not only possible, but standard practice. Then, reviewers can view them
however they like, and save trees in the bargain.
--
Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute
455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016
roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu -OR- {att,philabs,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy
"My karma ran over my dogma"