NIH Unveils New Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization (RCDC) System

2009-01-15

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is set to formally unveil the new Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization (RCDC) system. RCDC will offer the public, scientists, and the NIH staff a quick and easy way to get a complete list of research projects funded in 215 specific research areas, diseases, or conditions and, for the first time, a complete list of all NIH-funded projects related to each category will be available.

Established as part of a mandate set forth in the NIH Reform Act to improve how NIH presents information to the public, RCDC is a computerized process the NIH will use at the end of each fiscal year (beginning with fiscal year 2008) to sort and report the amount of research it funded. The data will be sorted into each of 215 historically reported categories of disease, condition, or research areas that have, over time, been requested by Congress and other federal agencies for reporting to Congress and the public. The reports generated by RCDC will provide the following detailed information for each category:

  • A total dollar amount for a category
  • A project listing
  • Project-specific information that can be sorted by:
    • Dollar amounts for each project within the category
    • Title of the research project
    • Whether the research is an extramural research grant, contract, or intramural project
    • Name(s) of the principal investigator(s)
    • Name of the institution conducting the research
    • NIH project identifier number (e.g., grant number)
    • Supporting NIH Institute or Center (IC)

The RCDC reports will also, for the first time, provide consistent information about NIH-funded research. Until now, each of the 27 ICs at NIH sorted and categorized its own funding based on the mission of that particular IC. Reports were not always produced using the same definitions across the NIH, even though many ICs do research in related areas. The RCDC process uses the same category definitions universally and applies them uniformly to all types of research at all of the ICs.

NIH has stressed that RCDC is merely a reporting system and does not, in any way, impact how research funds are distributed and that research will continue to be funded based on scientific excellence through the peer-review process.

More information, including detailed instructions on using RCDC, is available on the NIH Web site.

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