Survey of applicant´s opinion and satisfaction regarding the evaluation process of research proposals for “Salud Investiga” grants call

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Peer review of research proposals is the “gold standard” used by most agencies that fund health research to judge its quality. However, this process has received much criticism from the international research community. The “Dirección de Investigación en Salud” funds research proposals through calls for “Salud Investiga” grants, using the peer review procedure for the assignment of merit. In line with other public funding agencies, the process has received informal objections from the local research community. To date, the opinion regarding the evaluation process has not been formally evaluated. The objective was to evaluate the opinion of applicants for 2020 call about the experience with reviewers, the constructiveness, clarity and language of the comments, the overall satisfaction with the review and the reliability of the scores. METHODS: Self-administered voluntary electronic survey. RESULTS: The response rate was 39%. A majority of agreement was observed with those items that reflected positive perceptions/opinions regarding the peer review process, as well as a majority of disagreement with items that reflected negative perceptions/opinions. DISCUSSION: Overall, satisfaction with the process prevailed, although the degree varied significantly between those who obtained the scholarship and those who did not.