On September 10th, 2026, the NIH Council of Councils approved R3PEATS (Rigor, Replicability, & Reproducibility to Promote Excellence, Accuracy, and Translation in Science), a new NIH Common Fund program designed to strengthen the reliability of biomedical research and accelerate its path to improving patient care.
Building rigor, replicability, and reproducibility (“R3”) in biomedical research helps ensure that promising findings hold up and that discoveries move more reliably toward real benefits for patients. Gaps remain in how this happens day-to-day, however, and the cost of these gaps is real: promising leads can quietly stall, follow-on studies can be built on unstable ground, and doctors can be left without dependable evidence when it matters most. Closing these gaps is central to translating scientific discovery into genuine medical progress.
R3PEATS takes a coordinated, evidence-based approach to tackling these challenges. Rather than dictating a single fix, the program will fund and evaluate a range of practical strategies – testing what actually works to strengthen research practices, then spreading those lessons across the scientific community. The program will invest in studies that prioritize team science; will test interventions, metrics and incentives; and will launch training programs to equip scientists with the strongest available R3 practices. R3PEATS marks one of NIH's most ambitious efforts yet to make research reliability a shared, lasting priority rather than an individual burden.
The program is built around three central goals:
- Developing and testing metrics and incentives that encourage sound research practices across the scientific enterprise
- Funding studies that strengthen reliability while advancing biomedical discovery
- Growing a national community of researchers equipped to champion and spread these practices
To reach these aims, R3PEATS will invest across four coordinated fronts: Ecosystem, Research, Workforce, and Community.
R3PEATS aims to elevate the reliability of biomedical research outcomes, accelerating discoveries that everyone can count on. Learn more on the R3PEATS website.
R3PEATS funding opportunities are expected to be announced in 2027.
Find out more about the program by watching the videocast where the program is described (starting at 4:02:37) or by browsing the presentation slides and program description.
Stay up to date on new PRIMED-AI activities and announcements by joining the R3PEATS listserv.
