Appendix 2: MERIT REVIEW CRITERIA
Proposals submitted in response to this program announcement will be subject to the NEW merit review criteria approved by
the National Science Board on March 28, 1997 (NSB97-72). The new merit review criteria are:
What is the intellectual merit and quality of the proposed activity?
The following are suggested questions that the reviewer will consider in assessing how well the proposal meets this criterion.
Each reviewer will address only those questions that he/she considers relevant to the proposal and for which he/she
is qualified to make judgments.
How important is the proposed activity to advancing knowledge and understanding within its own field and
across different fields? How well qualified is the proposer (individual or team) to conduct the project? (If appropriate,
the reviewer will comment on the quality of prior work.) To what extent does the proposed activity suggest and
explore creative and original concepts? How well conceived and organized is the proposed activity? Is there sufficient access
to resources?
What are the broader impacts of the proposed activity?
The following are suggested questions that the reviewer will consider in assessing how well the proposal meets this criterion.
Each reviewer will address only those questions that he/she considers relevant to the proposal and for which he/she
is qualified to make judgments.
How well does the activity advance discovery and understanding while promoting teaching, training, and learning?
How well does the proposed activity broaden the participation of underrepresented groups (e.g., gender, ethnicity,
geographic, etc.)? To what extent will it enhance the infrastructure for research and education, such as facilities,
instrumentation, networks, and partnerships? Will the results be disseminated broadly to enhance scientific and technological
understanding? What may be the benefits of the proposed activity to society?
GOALI proposals will be evaluated in accordance with these two criteria and the GOALI objectives.
Catalog of Federal Assistance Number 47.074-BIO, 47.070-CISE, 47.076-EHR,
47.041-ENG, 47.050-GEO, 47.049-MPS, 47.075-SBE
OMB 3145-0058
PT: 34
KW: 0600000, 1004000, 1013000, 1010000, 0901020
NSF 98-142 (Replaces NSF 97-116)