Grant Reporting Rules Burden Researchers

Reporting requirements dictated by federal regulations are consuming immense amounts of grantees’ time and diverting them from performing research and training students, according to a new report from the National Science Board, NSF’s oversight body. And that administrative burden continues to grow. “Excessive and ineffective requirements take scientists away from the bench unnecessarily and divert taxpayer dollars from research to superfluous grant administration,” says Arthur Bienenstock, chairman of the NSB task force, which collected comments from more than 3,000 individuals. Researchers pointed to financial management, grant writing, and progress reporting as at the top of a long list of administrative tasks. The NSB report recommends focusing federal reporting requirements on research outcomes, as well as harmonizing requirements among federal agencies.