On Thu, 11 Jul 1996, Research Administration Discussion Group wrote:
> We are a small but growing research institution, and we are trying to
> determine the best way to measure our success rate.  We are interested in
> hearing how other universities handle this in general.  Do you measure
> new proposals submitted in a given year against new proposals received in
> that same year regardless of the year submitted?  Do you do a one-to-one
> correlation (e.g., if proposal X is submitted to NIH and is funded, that
> counts as a hit regardless of the year submitted and received)? ...
> Linda
> (xxxxxx@umbc.edu)

We count everything.  We also measure success ratios two ways: dollars
awarded divided by dollars submitted and proposals awarded divided by
proposals submitted.  For any fiscal year, we only count events that occur
in that fiscal year.  E.g., the entire award for a 1-year period counts in
the fiscal year awarded even though part of the award goes into the next
fiscal year.

This may not be the system you want to use.  However, it is important that
counting be done consistently from time period to time period.  One year's
results is usually not significant: we prefer to look at results over
longer time periods.

Joe Titone
Univ. of So. Calif.
Dept. of Medicine
Los Angeles
xxxxxx@hsc.usc.edu