A survey investigating United States federal grant submissions proposing to investigate therapeutic applications of psychedelics
medRxiv October 13, 2024 preprint DOI: 10.1101/2024.10.12.24315367 via OpenAlex
Summary
The survey of researchers revealed that from 2006 onwards, the funding rate for grant applications related to psychedelics increased to an estimated 19.05% to 22.2%, approaching the average NIH funding rate of 20.6% during that time. Overall, only 16.7% of all assessed grant applications were funded, which is below the NIH's average rate of 23.4%. Respondents felt that while funding success has improved, applications in this area still face lower chances compared to other research fields.
Study at a glance
| Design | survey |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 10 |
| Population | researchers who authored the most-cited articles on psychedelics |
| Key finding | The funding rate for psychedelic research grant applications increased to an estimated 19.05% to 22.2% since 2006, but overall funding remains below the NIH average. |
Abstract
Abstract This study surveyed researchers to assess the contents and funding success of federal grant applications for research into therapeutic applications of psychedelics in the United States. The author emailed an anonymous survey to the corresponding authors of the 50 most-cited articles on psychedelics published after 2000 and disseminated it via Twitter. Ten researchers responded, reporting on 24 grant submissions for psilocybin, ibogaine, LSD, MDMA, and other psychedelics, all to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), from the early 1990s onward. The number of grant applications rose noticeably starting in 2006. Of all grant applications assessed,16.7% were funded, lower than the NIH’s 23.4% average funding rate for R-01 equivalent grants between 1998-2023. More specifically, while no relevant grant applications submitted prior to 2006-2010 were funded by NIH, the funding rate of applications since then, estimated at 19.05% to 22.2%, is close to the average annual NIH funding rate of 20.6 ± 1.9% for R-01 equivalent grant applications from 2006 to early 2023. Respondents generally believed applications for this line of research had a lower chance of success compared to other lines of research, although they felt the funding landscape has improved in recent years, in line with this study’s other findings.