In addition to designating the Type of grant requested (research, beginning scholar pilot grant, beginning scholar consultation grant, or beginning career investigator), each applicant for a research award is invited to designate in which Domain of research he/she would like the application to be considered.

The Domains are:

1. The efficacy and effectiveness of psychoanalytic treatment (outcome research),

2. The processes underlying patients’ change in psychoanalysis (process research),

3. Fundamental mechanisms of cognitive, affective, and social/interpersonal change in mind and brain, as these relate to treatment issues in psychoanalysis (psychoanalytic research relating to mind and brain)

4. Research relating to infant, child, and adolescent development or child and adolescent analysis (psychoanalytic research relating to childhood)

5. Scholarly and empirical investigative contributions that can advance knowledge of psychoanalytic theory, history, and practice, and links between psychoanalysis and neighboring disciplines (conceptual research)

If the applicant has designated a research Domain, the Board will appoint an appropriate member of the Board to oversee the review of that application. If the applicant does not designate a research domain, or chooses more than one (which is allowed), the Board will decide which reviewers are most suitable for the application.