OMB Finalizes Peer Review Proposal - January 10, 2005 Vol.6, No.1

January 10, 2005 Vol.6, No.1:

Published: 01/10/2005

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OMB Finalizes Peer Review Proposal

Shortly before the holidays, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a final version of its bulletin to establish government-wide requirements for when and how federal agencies use scientific peer review. The final bulletin makes modest changes to the revised proposal that OMB published April 28, 2004 which only allowed a 30-day comment period. OMB’s announcement did not explain the seven-month delay until just before the holiday season, when many academics, scientists and public interest groups concerned with the policy were away on vacations.

After OMB released the revised proposal on peer review last April, OMB Watch acknowledged the improvements but raised several major concerns, which remained unaddressed, and provided recommendations for improving the final proposal.

OMB Watch’s major concerns with OMB’s revised proposal on scientific peer review addressed these five areas: Authority, Problem Definition, Oversight, Selection of Reviewers, and Regulatory Delay. For our detailed comments on the newest version of the peer review bulletin, please see our detailed analysis.