Science’s Jeffrey Mervis is reporting that The National Science Foundation (NSF) is saying No to the Chair of the House of Representatives Science, Space, and Technology Committee, Lamar Smith’s request for the reviewer comment from the peer review process for specific awards:

The National Science Foundation (NSF) today rebuffed a request from the chairman of the House of Representatives science committee to obtain reviewer comments on five social science research projects it is funding. The refusal is the latest twist in an increasingly edgy battle between the agency and Republicans in Congress over the agency’s grants-making process and, in particular, its support for the social and behavioral sciences.

 

In a letter to Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX), NSF defended the need to preserve the confidentiality of the peer-review process, according to sources with knowledge of the letter’s contents. The letter explains how NSF’s process works and that the independent reviewers recruited by the agency are promised anonymity in return for offering their candid comments on the quality of the proposal. After taking that hard line, however, acting NSF Director Cora Marrett proposed to brief the committee on how NSF selects from among some 40,000 research proposals that it receives each year. NSF also offered to provide general information on how the five grants satisfy NSF’s mission to expand the frontiers of science.

We will continue to share updates as the House Committee responds.