Submit your proposal to the CIBMTR Coordinating Center through the CIBMTR Study Proposal Form, to be considered for discussion at a Working Committee meeting. A staff member will assign your proposal a number and forward it to the Working Committee Scientific Director and the Statistician, who reviews the proposal for feasibility with CIBMTR data and potential conflict with active studies. The Statistician then forwards the proposal to the Working Committee Chairs for discussion.
The Working Committee Leadership reviews all proposals for scientific merit, feasibility, overlap with other studies, and the CIBMTR's ability to complete the study in a timely fashion. If duplication is identified, the proponent may be asked to join the Writing Committee of an ongoing study.
In advance of the February Tandem Meetings I Transplantation & Cellular Therapy Meetings of ASTCT and CIBMTR, the Working Committee Statistician prepares a table of characteristics of patient data based on the population defined in the proposal. This information is used during the presentation at the Working Committee meeting.
Once cleared to move forward, the Statistician contacts the investigator; all investigators are encouraged to personally present their proposals to the full Working Committee each February. After presentation and discussion, Working Committee members score each proposal, assigning a scientific impact score to each.
NOTE: Most proposals will follow this path. However, in special circumstances, a proposal deemed of high merit may be forwarded directly to the Working Committee ("fast-tracked") for consideration at another time of the year.
Feedback from Working Committee Meetings at the annual meeting is considered in deciding the relative merits of proposals. Final decisions regarding which studies to pursue are made by the Working Committee Chairs and after Advisory Committee approval of the complete CIBMTR research agenda.
Investigators are notified within approximately one month of the Tandem Meetings Working Committee Meeting.