News Release

NSB Releases Report on NSF’s Merit Review Criteria

January 9, 2012

The National Science Board (NSB) has released its report National Science Foundation's Merit Review Criteria:  Review and Revisions. The report is the culmination of a thorough review by the NSB Task Force on Merit Review to determine if the Merit Review Criteria used by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to evaluate all proposals since 1997 remain appropriate. The Board also recognized that the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 included a provision mandating the retention of the Broader Impacts criterion. Based on the Task Force's analyses, NSB concluded that the two current Merit Review Criteria of Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts remain appropriate for evaluating NSF proposals, though with revisions. The revisions to the Criteria are described in the report.

NSB Report: National Science Foundation's Merit Review Criteria:  Review and Revisions
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If you have trouble accessing any of the information in this document, please contact the NSB Office at  703-292-7000.)
The U.S. National Science Foundation propels the nation forward by advancing fundamental research in all fields of science and engineering. NSF supports research and people by providing facilities, instruments and funding to support their ingenuity and sustain the U.S. as a global leader in research and innovation. With a fiscal year 2023 budget of $9.5 billion, NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives more than 40,000 competitive proposals and makes about 11,000 new awards. Those awards include support for cooperative research with industry, Arctic and Antarctic research and operations, and U.S. participation in international scientific efforts.

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