Every time you access a page from an Office of Extramural Research (OER) Web site within the "grants.nih.gov" domain, we collect certain information from your computer about your visit. This information is used in summary format to identify items such as the date, time, origin and nature of requests, specific pages accessed, and the type of browser and computer operating system being used. Summary reports are only available to selected NIH staff who have a need for the information, in an effort to help us understand overall trends of site users and to implement changes that will make our site more useful to visitors.

When inquiries are E-mailed to us, we store the question and the E-mail address information so that we can respond electronically. Unless otherwise required by statute, we do not identify publicly who sends questions or comments to our web site. We will not obtain information that will allow us to personally identify you when you visit our site, unless you chose to provide such information to us.

E-mail sent to OER may be seen by a number of people who are responsible for answering questions. If you send us an e-mail, you are advised that e-mail is not necessarily secure against interception. So, if your communication includes sensitive information like your Social Security Number or personal health information, you may prefer to contact us by postal mail or telephone rather than e-mail.

OER Web Site "Cookies"

In an effort to make this Web site accessible to all individuals, OER offers two basic browsing options on site pages - Graphical or Text. When in Graphical mode, top level pages provide a choice of displaying a navigation bar in the left margin that has links to sections on that page as well as to overall site resources. When the Graphical or Text option is chosen, a "cookie" is set on your computer that identifies your browsing preference while using the OER Web site. Likewise a "cookie" is set to identify your navigation bar preference - Show or Hide. These "cookies" do not report any other information about you or your computer, nor do they communicate with any other site or service.

A "cookie" is a small file that a Web site transfers to your computer's hard disk allowing our server to "remember" specific information about your session while you are connected to our Web site. OER "cookies" that identify browsing preferences are stored on your computer for approximately 24 hours. These "cookies" do not collect or maintain any personal information about you. If you are concerned about the potential use of information gathered from your computer by cookies, you can set your browser to prompt you before it accepts a cookie. Most Internet browsers also have settings that let you identify and/or reject cookies.

Questions about NIH privacy policies should be sent to the NIH Privacy Act Officer at e-mail address NIHPrivacyActOfficer@OD.NIH.GOV.