An Analysis of Terminated NSF and NIH Grants

Introduction

Noam Ross from rOpenSci and Scott Delaney from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health have compiled two excellent datasets on terminated NIH and NSF grants .

Using the flagged keywords dictionary from the dataset on terminated NIH grants, I conducted frequency analyses of keywords in the terminated grants.

I only added “critical” as an additional keyword to the NIH flagged keywords. I also used the same keywords for the NSF dataset. You can suggest more flagged keywords by sending me an email.

The list of the flagged keywords is as follows: institutional, trans, inequities, marginalize, marginalized, racial, socioeconomic, underrepresented, underserved, barrier, barriers, bipoc, black, historically, minority, vaccine, vaccines, diverse, inclusion, mental health, at risk, female, gender, key populations, men who have sex with men, msm, political, sex, sociocultural, transgender, disability, trauma, diversity, equity, minorities, women, disparity, expression, females, belong, systemic, bias, biased, diverse backgrounds, identity, race, intersectional, intersectionality, racism, vulnerable populations, mrna, vaccination, status, orientation, discrimination, biases, equality, equitable, inequality, increase diversity, ethnicity, inequalities, injustice, polarization, inequity, racially, traumatic, segregation, assigned male at birth, lgbt, lgbtq, victim, discriminatory, sexuality, dei, accessible, systemically, excluded, diverse group, pollution, disabilities, assigned female at birth, stereotype, pregnant person, pregnant persons, inequitable, diversified, gender identity, latinx, health disparity, health equity, immigrants, activism, advocate, nonbinary, pronoun, most risk, diverse community, person-centered, person-centered care, oppression, affirming care, gender-affirming care, prejudice, culturally appropriate, underappreciated, diversify, inclusivity, racial justice, victims, enhancing diversity, social justice, hesitant, promote diversity, climate science, assigned at birth, hesitancy, vaccinate, non-binary, tribal, inclusive, community diversity, underrepresentation, implicit bias, advocates, advocacy, privilege, race and ethnicity, genders, native american, diverse communities, stereotypes, culturally responsive, exclusion, diverse groups, diversifying, mx, discriminated, anti-racism, racial inequality, gender diversity, climate crisis, unconscious bias, pregnant people, racial identity, implicit biases, multicultural, racial diversity, increase the diversity, deia, oppressive, inclusiveness, sense of belonging, women and underrepresented, gbv, hate speech, undervalued, promoting diversity, enhance the diversity, fostering inclusivity, underprivileged, pronouns, cultural differences, cultural sensitivity, allyship, critical

Here are the results for only May 2025 terminations, which shows more focus on certain keywords (in particular, “expression”) than others especially in terminated NIH grants.