Guidelines

The BSR guidelines outlined below describe the request submission schedules, work priorities, BSR support models, subsidies, authorship, and publication acknowledgement requirement.

In order to better manage BSR workflow on projects with external deadlines, requests should be submitted under the following guideline: 

• Grant Preparation: Requests for grant proposal assistance should be submitted at least 6 weeks before the grant submission deadline. For NIH P, U and SPORE proposals (or similar) a lead time of 6 months is required. We cannot guarantee assistance for requests submitted after this deadline. 
• Protocol Development: Requests for Investigator-initiated trial (IIT)/LOI development should be submitted at least 4 weeks before the deadline. 
• Analysis for abstract: Requests for data analysis assistance for abstract presentation at a national or international meeting should be submitted at least 6 weeks before the deadline, with appropriately formatted datasets for analysis being provided 4 weeks ahead. 

Please note: BSR will only work on analysis for an abstract presentation if the assigned biostatistician is notified and given enough time to review the abstract at the time of submission. 

BSR provides collaboration and consultation for cancer-related research projects, preferentially for cancer center members. Priorities for statistical work are: 

Tier I 

• NIH or other peer-reviewing agency (e.g., DoD, NSF, PCORI) funded studies with BSR budget 
• NIH or other peer-reviewing agency grant preparation (e.g., NIH P/U/SPORE, R, K) with proposed BSR budget 
• IIT/LOI development with proposed BSR budget 
• Internally funded studies with BSR budget 
• External & Internal pilot grant preparation with proposed BSR budget
• Education of Cancer Center members and trainees  

Tier II 

• Abstracts for national meetings (e.g., AACR, ASCO, ASTRO meetings), and other reports with fixed deadlines 
• Ongoing underfunded studies and manuscripts 

• In-kind support is provided for grant preparation and IIT/LOI development, noting that BSR personnel expect to be included in the budget at reasonable FTE percentages (See Department of Public Health Sciences (PHS) Research Collaborations % Effort Benchmarks for guidance)  
• For analysis and data management support for other projects, a one-hour initial consultation is offered free of charge. After this, these projects will be charged a fee for support, either by % Effort (see the % Effort Benchmarks above) or at PHS departmental hourly rates. 

BSR recognizes the statistical support need for underfunded/unfunded projects. In order to provide adequate support to cancer center members who lack funding, ensure fair utilization by the entire cancer center research community, and optimize the resource utilization, the following subsidy mechanism will be implemented. 

1. Cancer center members with underfunded/unfunded projects will receive a total of 12 hours per year of BSR support. Additional hours will require a special approval by the BSR Advisory Committee through a special application.
2. Student/Resident/Fellow/Post Doc projects allow for 4 hours complementary support before hourly rates apply. These are limited to one project per person per year.
3. Cancer center members can apply for special BSR “pilot” funds ($5,000, ~ 20 hours faculty and 20 hours staff time) designated to cover the expense of statistical support for currently underfunded/unfunded projects. Applications will be accepted twice a year. Two awards per cycle.
4. Cancer Center pilot grants may receive special BSR “pilot” funds ($5,000, ~ 20 hours faculty and 20 hours staff time) designated to cover the expense of statistical support for awarded projects. Pilot grant applications must include a letter of support from the BSR in their applications in order to receive this support if funded. 
5. REDCap database review: Up to one hour per investigator per year will be provided free through BSR for cancer center members. To request a review of a REDCap database, please submit an online BSR request form, and select “REDCap database review” as the services requested.

Investigators are expected to adhere to the authorship policies outlined on the PHS website. 

If research supported by BSR results in publication, please acknowledge BSR support by including the following in your publication(s):  

“Supported in part by the Biostatistics Shared Resource, University of Virginia Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Virginia (P30 CA044579).”