NIH OPASI Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization (RCDC)


	Frequently Asked Questions about the NIH Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization (RCDC) System 1. What is RCDC? 2. What are the categories? 3. Which categories do not follow the standard RCDC categorization process? 4. Who is building the RCDC system? 5. Why is the NIH building RCDC? 6. Will RCDC change the way the NIH funds research? 7. When will the RCDC results be ready for the public? 8. Where will the public be able to see RCDC reports? 9. What will the reports look like? 10. How is the RCDC system different from previous NIH spending reporting systems? 11. What are the system benefits? 12. How is RCDC different from CRISP on the web? 13. Will RCDC change the way researchers apply for grants? 14. Who chose the research area, disease, and condition categories used in RCDC? 15. How are the categories organized? 16. What if a research area, disease, or condition is not included among the list of categories? 17. What about basic research? 18. Will the numbers in RCDC reports add up to the total NIH budget?
	1. What is RCDC
	RCDC is a new computer-based tool that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will use at the end of each fiscal year to categorize its funding in biomedical research. The RCDC system sorts the NIH's funding into 215 Research, Condition, and Disease Categories. RCDC will report on three types of NIH funding: Research grants (extramural research) Research and development (R&D) contracts Research conducted within NIH's own laboratories and clinics (intramural research) The RCDC system will produce a complete list of funded projects by category. A category can cover a research area such as neuroscience, a disease such as asthma, or a condition such as chronic pain. Projects can fall into one or more categories, as all research has multiple dimensions that characterize its scientific content, methods, and aims.
	2. What are the categories?
	To see a list of categories the NIH currently reports on its website, please go to http://www.nih.gov/news/fundingresearchareas.htm. Please note: Not all of the categories listed on this site will be included in the RCDC system in 2009, and additional categories might be included in the new RCDC reports.
	3. Which categories do not follow the standard RCDC categorization process?
	Women’s Health and Minority Health DHHS generated definitions for producing women’s health and minority health reports with considerable input from the public. These reporting requirements cannot be easily implemented into RCDC. NIH will continue to report the total dollar amount for each category in FY08, and will not report project listings for these categories in FY08. The development of those definitions is scheduled to occur in the FY09 report. AIDS and Biodefense These two categories are unique because of congressional mandates. Each year Congress requires the NIH to budget a specific amount each for AIDS and biodefense research. Reports will be used to provide project listings in categories that are part of the budget reporting process. National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Identified Categories Reporting requirements for the following NSTC categories are mandated government-wide: Climate change Nanotechnology Networking IT Research and Development RCDC uses an adapted approach for these categories that includes a combined RCDC and manual approach.

	4. Who is building the RCDC system?
	RCDC is a complex tool that helps to categorize the NIH-supported research ongoing throughout the country. Hundreds of NIH technical and scientific experts helped to create the methods and identify key concepts that would allow the computerized RCDC tool to develop definitions for categorizing NIH-supported research. Two offices within the NIH Office of the Director are guiding the process: The Office of Portfolio Analysis and Strategic Initiatives (OPASI) manages and coordinates the project. The Electronic Research Administration in the Office of Extramural Research created the RCDC tool with support from the Center for Information Technology.
	5. Why is the NIH building RCDC?
	The NIH is the Nation's main health research agency. The NIH, funded by US tax dollars, supports biomedical research across the country and around the world. The American people want to know how the NIH is spending their tax dollars and what progress the NIH is making to improve the health of the Nation. RCDC helps to categorize the NIH research projects funded with these tax dollars. The NIH needed a more consistent, modern system. For decades, the NIH has reported its spending to Congress and the American people. With advances in data- and text-mining computer technology, the NIH recognized that it could transform its reporting process. In 2004, the NIH tested the small-scale application of a new computer system that accurately sorted the more than 85,000 NIH-funded research projects into categories. Congress issued a mandate. The U.S. Congress also understood the value and importance of a more consistent and transparent system to describe how the NIH categorizes its research at the end of each fiscal year. In addition, the National Academy of Sciences, an independent organization, issued two reports recommending this type of change. In 2006, Congress added a requirement in the NIH Reauthorization Act to build a tool to categorize the agency's research.
	6. Will RCDC change the way the NIH funds research?
	No. The NIH receives its budget from Congress at the beginning of each fiscal year. The NIH funds the most meritorious investigator-initiated scientific research proposals it receives using a three-phase peer review process. At the end of each fiscal year, the NIH reports how much it spent in approximately 215 categories (many of which have been identified for reporting by Congress). This process will continue, and the way in which the NIH funds research will remain the same.
	7. When will the RCDC results be ready for the public?
	In the spring of 2009, timed with the release of the President's budget, the NIH will post the first RCDC report on fiscal year 2008-funded research on a public website. When the web-based information is available, NIH will alert the public through newsletters, listservs, and other communications.
	8. Where will the public be able to see RCDC reports?
	The reports will be available on the NIH website. Once the RCDC reports website is available in the spring of 2009, the public will be able to view, print, and download the RCDC reports.
	9. What will the reports look like?
	The public website for RCDC results will be very similar to the current NIH category-reporting website at http://www.nih.gov/news/fundingresearchareas.htm. As an added feature, the new website will also provide project listings under each category.
	10. How is the RCDC system different from previous NIH spending reporting systems?
	The new RCDC system is different in two important ways. First: RCDC will use a consistent categorization process for each research area, disease, or condition and provide a uniform report for all of the NIH. The NIH comprises 27 Institutes and Centers (ICs), each with its own mission and budget. Until now, each IC sorted and categorized its own funding based on its own mission. Reports did not always use the same definitions throughout NIH, even though many ICs do research in related areas. The RCDC system will use the same category definitions universally and apply them uniformly to all types of research at all of the ICs. Second: The public can access the detailed reports on the Internet. RCDC category summary results will be available on a public website for anyone to see. RCDC also will produce more detailed funding reports so that the public can see a complete list of projects by title in each category and the associated dollars spent.
	11. What are the system benefits?
	RCDC offers the public, scientists, and the NIH staff a quick and easy way to get a complete and consistent list of funded research projects regarding specific research areas, diseases, or conditions. RCDC is consistent. RCDC will produce standard and reliable reports across all ICs. The sorting process will be consistent and reproducible. All ICs will use the same NIH-wide category definition for a research area, disease, or condition. For reporting purposes, all ICs will use the same terms, process, and project listing to describe the same disease or condition. RCDC is detailed. RCDC system reports will give the following detailed information for each category with estimates for the next 2 years posted on a public website: A project listing - all projects whose summaries met the category standard A total dollar amount for a category Project specific information that can be sorted by: Dollar amounts for each project within the category The project's NIH identifier number (e.g., grant number) The supporting NIH IC The title of the research project Whether the research is a grant, contract, or intramural project The name of the Principal Investigator(s) The name of the institution conducting the research
	12. How is RCDC different from CRISP on the web?
	The Computer Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects (CRISP) is the traditional grant-searching tool. CRISP allows searches using key words of numerous project elements. RCDC will not but a new enhanced version of CRISP will provide this service in 2009. No categorization information currently exists in CRISP. RCDC is designed to categorize. CRISP does not produce data in table format. The RCDC public website will. CRISP includes data from other government agencies. RCDC includes only data from the NIH. CRISP provides information on grants made prior to fiscal year 2007 (and for any grants not categorized in RCDC). The RCDC website will be available for research projects starting in fiscal year 2008.
	13. Will RCDC change the way researchers apply for grants?
	No. RCDC has no impact on the grant application and review process.
	14. Who chose the research area, disease, and condition categories used in RCDC?
	The 215 categories include those that the NIH has historically reported to Congress and the public.
	15. How are the categories organized?
	RCDC lists categories alphabetically.
	16. What if a research area, disease, or condition is not included among the list of categories?
	If a research area does not appear on the RCDC list, it was not included in the list of categories historically reported. Creating a category definition and sorting projects is a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. In future years, the NIH might add new categories. Any new categories will require the same care in development.
	17. What about basic research?
	Basic research examines scientific questions to expand knowledge and understanding and is fundamental to the NIH and the research enterprise. Because of basic research, the nation has benefited from a wealth of significant advances and progress that has led to new ways to prevent, diagnose, or treat a variety of diseases and conditions. Often basic research, because of its fundamental nature, can have a direct impact on many different research areas and diseases. For example, basic research on the blood-brain barrier affects research related to drug delivery, cancer treatment, infections, and more. It is critical that the NIH support this type of research even though it might not be easily categorized today. The true extent of the benefits of a basic research study might not be uncovered until many years after it is completed.
	18. Will the numbers in RCDC reports add up to the total NIH budget?
	No. RCDC categories will not add up to the total NIH budget for the following reasons: Each category stands alone, not in relation to other categories. RCDC answers two questions for each category: What is the scope of research (the project listing), and What was spent (the dollar amount) in this category? RCDC approaches each research category as a separate inquiry answered to the best of its ability. The purpose of RCDC is not to account for the entire NIH budget across thousands of research topics. RCDC does not prorate costs for projects in a category. RCDC counts all projects at 100% of their funded level in all of the categories in which they appear. Though each category stands alone, one research project might be related to more than one RCDC category. For example, an imaginary project whose title is "Depression in older men with diabetes" could be sorted into four categories: 1) Depression 2) Aging 3) Mental health, and 4) Diabetes Excluding this project from any one of the four categories would result in an incomplete and inaccurate listing. The NIH is building RCDC to be as accurate, comprehensive, and detailed as possible for each individual category. Within RCDC, there is no accurate and uniform way to divide the costs associated with one research project. If you have additional questions, please email your question to rcdcpublicinfo@mail.nih.gov.