About twenty years ago, I worked at General Electric learning how to run a business and lead large and small companies. When I was a Corporate Auditor at General Electric at GE Medical Systems and other businesses we saw corners getting cut. Sometimes intentional. Sometimes not. We saw some pretty amazing things from inside the corporate umbrella. Yet, throughout it all one phrase rang true for all to hear. “The best do not need to cheat.”
This one sentence inspired us to be the best. The phrase implicitly said that you just needed to do the work to be the best in your role, at your division and in your marketplace…and that meant doing your job at the very highest level. It also meant not cutting corners to get there.
We have the same approach at Grant Engine. One of the key facets of our model is rigorous external review. We ask each individual who reviews our grants to abide by strict confidentiality and also the NIH Guidelines of Peer Review. We want our grants to be the best possible. This means doing the work needed. It does not mean cutting corners to be successful.
A recent post from NIH by Mike Lauer and Sally Amero discusses the common missteps that constitute Breaches of Peer Review Integrity. When you read this, you might think these are obvious. Still, exhibiting these principles in the scientific community is everyone’s job. The benefits of being the best in your role are big. The consequences of foot-faulting on peer-review guidelines are severe as well.
There are issues that are not so black and white that deserve attention. At Grant Engine we have seen issues where a Reviewer has copied previous comments from a review and pasted them into a subsequent Summary Statement. To the extent that about 80% of the review is exactly the same. This, despite a total rewrite. We’ve taken the steps you would expect: cited the issue, communicated to the SRO, and are staying the course.
In the end, we recommend just being the best at what you do. This way, you don’t need to cut any corners!
If you would like to discuss how you can do that or just want to chat….please feel free to call (650) 937-9164 or email greastscience@grantengine.com or click here.
Recent Comments