Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
An NIH grantee submits the annual, non-competing RPPR through eRA Commons as the interim report.
- Is an instance
A Horizon Europe coordinator submits the consortium's periodic report through the Funding & Tenders Portal.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
The final report at project end is not an interim report.
- Not an instance
An internal lab-group monthly meeting summary is not a sponsor interim report.
Editorial commentary
An interim report is a progress or financial report a recipient submits during a multi-period grant, covering activity up to a defined intermediate point, and it is the document that supports the sponsor’s continuation decision. It combines a technical narrative — progress against aims, task and work-package status, deliverables submitted, publications, risks — with a financial statement of expenditure to date, variance, and forecast.
Interim vs. final
An interim report is not the final report: the final report is filed once, at project end, closes the technical record, and does not carry a continuation decision because there is no further period to continue into. An interim report is filed once for every reporting period except the last.
Named examples
NIH’s annual, non-competing Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR), filed through eRA Commons, is the US federal equivalent; NIH’s Final RPPR, by contrast, is due no later than 120 days after the project period ends and functions as closeout documentation, not an interim one. Horizon Europe’s periodic report, submitted through the Funding & Tenders Portal, covers each defined reporting period (commonly 12 or 18 months) and is reviewed by the Project Officer before the corresponding payment is released.
What reviewers look for
A Project Officer or programme officer reviewing an interim report is checking three things in particular: whether reported technical progress is consistent with the budget and effort spent, whether any deviation from the original plan has been flagged and justified rather than discovered later, and whether prior review comments, if any, have been addressed. A report that raises more questions than it answers can trigger a request for clarification before the associated payment is released, adding delay beyond the review’s normal processing time.
What produces it and what it is not
Preparing an interim report is the work of the reporting phase. Missing or late interim reports can delay subsequent payments. An interim report is not project closure documentation — that pack is assembled once, at project end, and an interim report belongs to an earlier point in the project’s life.
Also known as
Periodic report · Progress report (interim) · Annual report (grant)
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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