Resources for Researchers

The Ruth Lilly Medical Library at Indiana University School of Medicine offers a wealth of resources to help you make your work fulfilling, productive and successful. Services include:

• A comprehensive collection of databases, e-books and e-journals

• Articles and books by request, at no cost

• Assistance with literature searches for grant proposals, publications, presentations, research or educational program development

• Support for NIH Public Access Compliance and creating NIH biosketches

• Consultations for conducting systematic reviews and other evidence syntheses

• Information on scholarly communication, including information on publishing and scholarly impact

• Open workshops and customized classes (live-streamed online and in-person)

• Tutorials and help sheets for online databases

• Customized research guides

• Assistance locating resources on the history of medical education

• Guidance on conducting research using primary sources

• Exposure to relevant emerging technologies, including 3d printing and virtual reality in our Makerspace

• Help managing scholarly profiles through creating an Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCid)

• Support for using the electronic lab notebook (ELN) system LabArchives and developing Data Management Plans (DMPs)

The Resources for Faculty, Residents, Fellows and Graduate Students page provides quick links to frequently requested resources.

All research affiliated with Indiana University must comply with federal, state and institutional guidelines. Learn about the procedures in seven compliance areas that establish the highest ethical standards and best practices in pre-clinical, clinical and other research activities at IU. These procedures are enforced independent of funding agencies or sponsorship.

For human subject research

• First, complete human subjects research course through the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) program. Note that this training can take several hours to complete.

• Next, determine the level of IRB review required.

• Before your study can be reviewed by the IRB, you’ll need to complete a conflict of interest disclosure.

For research involving animals

• All animal research, testing or teaching activities at Indiana University must be thoroughly reviewed before work can begin.

• Find procedures and forms for getting approval for your study at the Animal Care and Use website.

For work involving biological materials

Research involving recombinant DNA or biohazards requires approval by the Institutional Biosafety Committee.

Preventing research misconduct

Indiana University takes a strong, proactive approach to preserving research integrity and preventing research misconduct. View more training, resources and reporting mechanisms.

Getting started with research can be daunting. It is helpful to seek out people who can serve as collaborators and mentors, or just offer guidance about how to begin.

Start within your department

Your own department can be a great starting point to learn about people who could potentially become your collaborators or mentors. Most departments at IU School of Medicine have directors or vice chairs of research. Typically, these leaders can introduce you to key individuals within the department and across campus.

Connect with your liaison librarian

Liaison librarians are assigned to each IU School of Medicine department, campus, research center and unit. They provide physicians, researchers, students and staff the highest level of personalized support. Find your liaison librarian.

Chapter 6: Team Science Leadership

This chapter from the book Enhancing the Effectiveness of Team Science by the Committee on the Science of Team Science, et al, gives an in-depth history and explanation of organizational leadership and how it applies to the concept of team science.

Article: "Managing a Research Team"

This article from Vitae provides practical advice for building and managing a research team, setting expectations, monitoring progress and motivation, and delegating responsibilities.

Career-development consultations

FAPD offers one-on-one career consultations for a variety of needs, including career development, promotion and tenure, teaching development and basic science research. Learn more and request a consultation.

Grant proposal support and mentoring

Investigators, if you are seeking to improve your grant applications and move your discoveries into successful translational research projects, you can make use of several peer-review opportunities offered by IU School of Medicine and the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute.

Research Development Services

Research Development Services, part of IU Research, offers a structured and supportive process for preparing proposals to be submitted to external funding sources. Resources are meant to augment, not replace, resources that exist within the School of Medicine. Services include idea and team development, strategic proposal support, administrative review and proposal submission.

Research & Evaluation Design Support (REDS) for Grant Proposals

The REDS program provides specialized consultation related to research design, evaluation plans, survey methodology and statistics. It leverages the expertise of the Institute for Social & Behavioral Research (ISBR) centers and programs. Faculty PIs or co-PIs, including research scientists, preparing external proposals are eligible for support at no cost.

NIH tips for planning your grant application

Find tips to help you plan and organize your application for a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), directly from the NIH. Included are sections on consulting your institution's research office; considering your idea, resources and collaborators; finding opportunities, contacts and due dates; following NIH application policies and requirements; and organizing your time to complete the application. 

Research training and career-development programs from the NIH

Find resources that will support your research efforts — whether you're an early career researcher or an established investigator — from the NIH Research Training and Career Development unit. The website includes information on various awards, as well as resources related to career guidance, responsible research conduct and more.

Grant-writing workbooks

Grant Application Writers' Workbooks provide guidance on successful grantsmanship. They offer a practical, step-by-step approach to grant-writing, including how to develop and refine a compelling idea, tips and strategies relevant to each section of the proposal and more.

Grant-writing workshop for rehabilitation researchers

The Training in Grantsmanship for Rehabilitation Researchers (TIGRR) four-day workshop includes one-on-one mentorship, pairing emerging principal investigators who focus on rehabilitation research with nationally recognized mentors — including representatives of federal funding agencies. Selected mentees will come prepared to complete at least the specific aims for a grant proposal for submission to the NIH or other funding agency. The workshop provides guidance in grant-writing, clinical-trial design, biostatistics, collaboration, grantsmanship, budgeting and career development through lectures and individual consultation. Attendees can also participate in post-workshop peer-review panels. 

There are two main sources of funding grants:

• Intramural grants are available through the university
• Extramural grants are available via the state, foundations or the federal government.

If you are just starting in research or trying to collect pilot data, start by seeking intramural grants. In some cases, state or foundation grant opportunities might be appropriate. Successful applications for federal grants often require some level of pilot data.

Intramural grants

• Internal Grants Competitions Administered by VPR, OVCR and OVPR
• Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI)
  
  

Extramural grants

Federal grants

Search for federal grants at grants.gov. You can also subscribe to listservs to receive notifications regarding specific funding opportunities.

Online foundations directory

You can also obtain grants from foundations supporting research that addresses specific causes or that align with the foundations' missions. Access more than 300,000 grant-maker profiles and other information you can use to strategically seek funding through the Candid Foundation Directory.

Pivot

Pivot is a dynamic, comprehensive tool that allows you to search for funding opportunities and potential collaborators around the world. All Indiana University faculty, staff and students can access Pivot from any IU workstation or through IU Secure.

NIH loan-repayment grants

Loan-repayment programs (LRPs) are a set of programs established by Congress that are designed to recruit and retain highly qualified health professionals into biomedical or bio-behavioral research careers. In exchange for a commitment to conduct biomedical or behavioral research, LRPs will repay up to $50,000 of an LRP awardee's qualified educational debt each year. Learn more and apply.

Indiana University and IU School of Medicine library resources

• Ruth Lilly Medical Library

• IU Indianapolis University Library

Online resources

• IU Indianapolis University Library databases — an exhaustive list of multiple databases, organized by subject

• PubMed (MEDLINE) — From the National Library of Medicine, this database comprises more than 37 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals and online books.

• Scopus — This abstract and citation database includes peer-reviewed titles from international publishers, open-access journals, conference proceedings, trade publications and quality website sources.

• Web of Science — This database provides bibliographic data, full-length author abstracts and cited references for peer-reviewed journals.

• Google Scholar — Use this search engine to find articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other websites.

• Nature Masterclasses are on-demand resources that share techniques and strategies to help you develop or refine your skills and confidence across a range of essential research activities, including writing.

• The National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD) offers many resources focused on writing, including writing challenges. Indiana University Indianapolis is an institutional member, so all IU School of Medicine faculty have access to the NCFDD resources. Simply use your IU email address to gain access.

• The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL), hosted by Purdue University, offers resources on research, style guides, grammar, mechanics and other topics.

• Try one of these fun writing apps to help you get over writer's block, as recommended by Duke University Medical Center Library & Archives.

• IU Indianapolis Open Access Fund — Find eligible open-access journals for which you could receive financial support to cover publication costs.

• Journal Citation Reports — Find a journal's impact factor (how often, on average, articles published in the journal are cited by other research papers). Search by journal name or subject.

• Scopus — Search by topic, then analyze results to see journals and authors that publish frequently on your topic of interest.

• Web of Science — Use the Analyze feature to find what journals publish most often on a given topic.

• Directory of Open-Access Journals — Get access to articles published in more than 13,000 quality, open-access, peer-reviewed journals.