Cite the Center: New Guidance on Acknowledging Federal Funding
Updated August 2026
There is new guidance and oversight on
Communicating and Acknowledging Federal Funding.
This is a significant change. It is required for all NIH-funded projects (papers, posters, press releases), and is especially relevant to our Pilot Projects, seed-funded, or voucher-funded projects.
The NIH Grants Policy Statement outlines requirements for acknowledging federal funding in the following products when describing projects or programs funded in whole or in part with NIH funds:
- Research publications
- Press releases and other public statements
- Other publications or documents about research funded by NIH
- Requests for proposals and bid invitations
- Other documents describing projects or programs funded in whole or in part with federal money
These products must include the following three statements:
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A specific acknowledgment of NIH grant support, such as:
“Research reported in this [publication/press release] was supported by [name of the Institute(s), Center, or other NIH offices] of the National Institutes of Health under award number [specific NIH grant number(s) in this format: R01GM987654].”
(If you have more than one grant, only cite the grant(s) that supported the research described in the article or presentation.)
-
An acknowledgment of the level of NIH funding, indicating:
- The percentage and dollar amount of the total program or project costs financed with federal money, and
- The percentage and dollar amount of the total costs financed by nongovernmental sources (in projects requiring cost share — not P30).
-
A disclaimer that says:
“The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.”
Recipients should only acknowledge NIH awards on publications and other statements when the activities that contributed to that publication:
- Directly arise from the award, and
- Are within the scope of the award being acknowledged
When considering whether acknowledgment is necessary, ask yourself:
- Did the personnel activity supported by the award contribute to the publication?
- Did the award support the conduct of experiments or the analysis of data that contributed to the publication?
- Is there a clear and apparent link between the work described in the publication and the aims and objectives of the grant?
If the answer is yes to any of these questions, cite the appropriate NIH support (and the % and $ of the award used).
Any and all concerns should go to OPERALeadership@nih.gov.
Two Clarifications
First — Facilitation, mentoring, morale, and salary support from the P30 (to the authors) are difficult to quantify, but are within the scope of our mission/award and should be acknowledged. It is not yet clear what dollar figure to use; email OPERA to ask whether you can acknowledge this support without a $/%.
Second — If you are acknowledging multiple grants, each one must have a dollar amount and percentage provided.
It is not yet clear whether these figures need to add up to 100%, how this will be tracked, or whether this will hold up RPPRs — but this is a significant change. P30 directors are strongly encouraged to email OPERA with questions.
For already published articles you can still cite the center by following the instructions provided below. Just click the button to download the PDF instructions.