How to start your PCORI Final Research Report: 5 Steps to take before you write

You’re almost at the finish line.

You secured the multimillion-dollar PCORI award and spent the last 5+ years executing your research plan. Your team has logged thousands of hours of work, met with stakeholders and collaborators dozens of times, managed study sites, and collected reams of data. Along the way, you’ve painstakingly managed administrative details, from securing IRB approvals to filing detailed annual reports to PCORI. Now you’re analyzing data and submitting conference abstracts and papers to peer-revied journals.

But one major deliverable remains: your PCORI Final Research Report.

What is the PCORI Draft Final Research Report (DFRR)?

As your PCORI study comes to an end, you enter the Peer Review Phase. Your task is to submit your Draft Final Research Report (DFRR) to PCORI. External peer reviewers evaluate it, and the final version is eventually published on PCORI’s website.

The PCORI final report is not a journal article; it is a thorough accounting of your entire study. It typically runs about 15,000 words and includes elements that don’t appear in your typical journal publication. Between PCORI’s rigorous guidelines and tight timeline, writing the DFRR can feel stressful.

It doesn’t need to be. A few basic steps taken before you begin to write can save considerable effort later.

Step 1: Compile and organize your study documents and publications

The good news: You already have most of the content you need to write your PCORI final report. The challenge: By the end of your study, you likely have hundreds of documents, data files, slide decks, and reports, many of which exist in multiple versions.

Don’t waste precious writing time hunting down the content you need. Instead, take time at the outset to compile your documents and data, ensure that folder and file names are clear, and confirm that you’re working with the final versions of each item.

Checklist: Documents you need before writing your PCORI final report

Your original PCORI proposal, including research plan and references
Published study protocol, if available
Statistical analysis plan
Annual reports submitted to PCORI, as well as dated documentation of any PCORI-approved changes to the research plan
Slide decks or presentations (often good sources for figures)
Materials related to stakeholder engagement, such minutes from advisory group meetings, lists of stakeholders and their roles, etc.
Publications to date. It will be helpful to have both the published (pdf) versions and the final files submitted for publication (e.g., text, tables, figures, etc.)

Pro tip: Get a fresh start for your DFRR by placing only the files you need into a new folder or cloud-based workspace.

Step 2: Gather and review PCORI’s instructions, templates, and resources

The DFRR is not a place to get creative. The report requires far more information than a standard journal article, and PCORI provides precise instructions for how and where this information should be presented. If you adhere to PCORI’s guidelines, you can avoid unnecessary edits and revisions during the administrative pre-review stage.

While PCORI spells out these requirements clearly, this information appears across multiple documents. Here are the main ones to keep track of:

Draft Final Research Report: Instructions for Awardee: Provides an overview of the peer review process and timeline, a description of the requirements for each section, general formatting instructions, and a final submission checklist. (Important note: PCORI updates this document regularly. The version linked above is from August 2026.)
Extended DFRR Instructions: For use with projects involving Comparative Effectiveness Research. Offers detailed specifications for each section of the report. Instructions are provided by the contractor PCORI uses manage peer review.
The right PCORI final report template: While most PCORI reports can use the Standard Template, PCORI also offers templates for studies with distinct aims, methods-focused projects, and science-of-engagement studies.

Pro tip: You’ll refer to these documents constantly. Download them and save with the files you compiled in Step 1, or print them for quick reference.

Step 3: Study published PCORI final reports for models and examples

If you’re concerned that your study doesn’t quite fit the PCORI DFRR template, explore PCORI’s portfolio to see how other study teams successfully navigated the same challenges. Whether your study involved copious qualitative data, significant COVID-19 setbacks, or the development of a shared decision-making tool prior to testing in an RCT, you will likely find a model on PCORI’s website.

Step 4: Plan authorship and internal review early

Who needs to review and approve the DFRR prior to submission? The peer review timeline leaves little leeway for delays, and you don’t want to ask co-investigators to review a 60-page report on a tight deadline.

Before you write, consider who needs to be engaged, particularly any co-Investigators, biostatisticians, or other stakeholders. Ensure that they understand the peer review process and their role in it, and communicate your anticipated deadlines or periods of internal review. Of course, this advice holds for any publication, and not just the PCORI DFRR!

Step 5: Secure permission to republish journal content

If you have already published parts of your study (protocol, methods, results) in peer-reviewed journals, PCORI permits you to reprint text and figures in your final report, either exactly or in adapted form. To avoid unwelcome bottlenecks, start securing permission to republish as soon as possible. Many journals will permit reproduction for scholarly, non-commercial use through Creative Commons—but don’t delay in finding this out.

Make your final PCORI research report a breeze

The PCORI Draft Final Research Report (DFRR) can have a reputation for being burdensome, but it doesn’t need to be. A few strategic hours spent at the pre-writing stage can save you significant time and heartache during peer review.

Need help with your PCORI final research report?

I help research teams plan, write, and revise PCORI final research reports that meet PCORI’s requirements and move smoothly through peer review. You can learn more about my services and contact me to talk about your project here.