Guidance on Complying with the Stevens Amendment Reporting Requirements
Background
The Stevens Amendment was first enacted as part of the Department of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-166, § 511, 103 Stat. 1159, 1181 (Nov. 21, 1989). The Stevens Amendment requires disclosure of the use of federal funds in public facing documents related to awards funded by the covered agencies. The March 2026 NIH Grants Policy Statement includes the Stevens Amendment requirements in Section 4.2.1 Acknowledgement of Federal Funding. This document provides guidance to the Penn community to assist with Stevens Amendment compliance.
When does the Stevens amendment apply?
The acknowledgement of federal funding is required for:
- Press releases (including digital and social media content)
- Project Websites
- Presentations at Meetings or Conferences
- Training and Outreach Materials
- Scientific Publications
where the project, program, or publication is funded in part or in total with federal funds.
What needs to be included in the acknowledgement?
The Stevens amendment text requests that the acknowledgement state:
- The percentage and dollar amounts of the total program/project cost financed with federal money, and
- The dollar amount and total costs financed by non-governmental sources.
The NIH is also requiring a disclaimer statement as part of the acknowledgement.
Understanding that this is difficult to interpret, Penn is offering the following as a reasonable interpretation for the research community.
| Element of Disclosure | How to report |
|---|---|
| NIH Support | List each award that directly supported the described work (e.g., R01GM123456). |
| Federal Share | State the federal dollar amount and percentage of total project/program costs financed with federal funds. |
| Non-governmental Share | State the total value of the non-federal share and percentage of total costs funded by non-governmental funds. |
| Disclaimer | The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. |
NIH has clarified that the amount cited for a specific award should be the awarded amount. If the award is funded on a project year basis, cite only the amount awarded to date at the time of publication, and do not include out-year funds that have not yet been awarded.
What does it look like in my publication?
The following example has been provided by the NIH in recent presentations:
Research described in a publication was supported by 4 sources: 2 NIH grants and 2 non-federal awards. Each project received $1 million in total costs in the time frame that the published research was conducted.
- Example Acknowledgement:
Research reported in the Journal of Health Psychology, March 2026, was supported by 1) the National Institute of Mental Health under grants R01MH123456 and R01MH654321 and 2) the Imaginary University Clinician Scientist award, and an award from the Foundation for Research. A total of $2 million, or 50 percent of this project was financed with federal funds. A total of $2 million, or 50 percent of the project was financed with non-governmental funds. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.