Your Visit to the CSR Website is Private and Secure
This website is provided as a public service by the Center for Scientific Review (CSR) at NIH. CSR websites perform a wide range of functions, including the collection and dissemination of grant application and scientific peer review policy statements, laws and regulations, technical, and, in some cases, personal information. CSR's policy with respect to the collection, use and disclosure of personal information is to ensure compliance with applicable.
Protecting your privacy is very important to us. We do not collect any personally identifiable information (PII) about you during your visit to CSR websites unless you choose to provide it to us. We do, however, collect some data about your visit to our website to help us better understand how the public uses the site and how to make it more helpful. We collect information from visitors who read, browse, and/or download information from our website. CSR never collects information for commercial marketing or any purpose unrelated to the CSR mission and goals.
When visitors send email messages containing personal information to the CSR mailboxes, CSR staff respond to the letters and files them. Only designated staff members requiring access to the emails to respond may view or answer them.
Types of Information Collected
When you browse through any website, certain information about your visit can be collected. We automatically collect and temporarily store the following types of information from your visit to https://public.csr.nih.gov/.
- Domain from which you access the internet.
- IP address (an IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to a computer when browsing the internet).
- Operating system and information about the browser used when visiting the site.
- Date and time of your visit.
- Pages you visited.
- Address of the website that connected you to an NIH website (such as google.com or bing.com).
We use this information to measure the number of visitors to our site and its various sections and to help make our site more useful to visitors.
How CSR Collects Information
CSR websites use a variety of different web measurement software tools and specific information regarding information collection can be found on their respective websites. CSR uses Webtrends measurement software to collect the information in the bulleted list in the Types of Information Collected section above. Webtrends collects information automatically and continuously. No PII is collected. CSR staff conduct analyses and reports on the aggregated data from Webtrends. The reports are only available to CSR and other designated staff who require this information to perform their duties. CSR retains the data from Webtrends as long as needed to support the mission of the CSR website.
How CSR Uses Cookies
The Office of Management and Budget Memo M-10-22, Guidance for Online Use of Web Measurement and Customization Technologies allows federal agencies to use session and persistent cookies.
When you visit any website, its server may generate a piece of text known as a "cookie" to place on your computer. The cookie allows the server to "remember" specific information about your visit while you are connected.
The cookie makes it easier for you to use the dynamic features of websites. Cookies from CSR websites only collect information about your browser’s visit to the site; they do not collect personal information about you.
There are two types of cookies: single session (temporary) and multi-session (persistent). Session cookies last only as long as your web browser is open. Once you close your browser, the cookie disappears. Persistent cookies are stored on your computer for longer periods.
Session Cookies: We use session cookies for technical purposes such as to enable better navigation through our site. These cookies let our server know that you are continuing a visit to our site. The OMB Memo 10-22 Guidance defines our use of session cookies as "Usage Tier 1—Single Session." The policy says, "This tier encompasses any use of single session web measurement and customization technologies."
Persistent Cookies: CSR does not use persistent cookies. Persistent cookies are defined in the OMB Memo 10-22 Guidance as "Usage Tier 2—Multi-session without Personally Identifiable Information (PII)." The policy states, "This tier encompasses any use of multi-session Web measurement and customization technologies when no PII is collected."
How to Opt Out or Disable Cookies
If you do not wish to have session or persistent cookies placed on your computer, you can disable them using your web browser. If you opt out of cookies, you will still have access to all information and resources at NIH.gov. Instructions for disabling or opting out of cookies in the most popular browsers are located at https://www.usa.gov/optout-instructions. Please note that by following the instructions to opt-out of cookies, you will disable cookies from all sources, not just those from https://public.csr.nih.gov/.
How Personal Information Is Protected
You do not have to give us personal information to visit CSR websites. However, if you choose to receive alerts or e-newsletters, we collect your email address and name to complete the subscription process.
If you choose to provide us with PII, that is, information that is personal in nature and which may be used to identify you, through an e-mail message, request for information, paper or electronic form, questionnaire, customer satisfaction survey, epidemiology research study, etc., we will maintain the information you provide only as long as needed to respond to your question or to fulfill the stated purpose of the communication. If we store your personal information in a record system designed to retrieve information about you by personal identifier (name, personal email address, home mailing address, personal or mobile phone number, etc.), so that we may contact you, we will safeguard the information you provide to us in accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (5 U.S.C. Section 552a).
If CSR operates a record system designed to retrieve information about you to accomplish its mission, a Privacy Act Notification Statement should be prominently and conspicuously displayed on the public-facing website or form which asks you to provide personally identifiable information. The notice must address the following 5 criteria:
- NIH legal authorization to collect information about you;
- Purpose of the information collection;
- Routine uses for disclosure of information outside of NIH;
- Whether the request made of you is voluntary or mandatory under law; and
- Effects of non-disclosure if you choose to not provide the requested information.
Questions about NIH privacy policies should be sent to the NIH Office of the Senior Official for Privacy at privacy@mail.nih.gov, call 301-451-3426 or visit https://www.nih.gov/web-policies-notices.
Third-Party Websites and Applications
CSR uses third-party services and social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube as additional ways to communicate with you. The security and privacy policies of these sites governs your activity on them. When you use them, you’re often sharing information with the general public, other users, and the group operating that site or application. We recommend you review the privacy policies of these third-party sites and applications to ensure you understand how they might use your information. You may be able to adjust the privacy settings on your account.
Downloads
We provide a link to download Adobe Acrobat to view some government documents, such as those in Portable Document Format (PDF) and Adobe Flash Player to play the files with extensions such as .swf and .flv Adobe Acrobat to view some government documents, such as those in Portable Document Format (PDF) and Adobe Flash Player.
