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National Science Board Releases Assessment of NSF Merit Review

National Science Board Releases Assessment of NSF Merit Review

The National Science Board has made public their latest review of the National Science Foundation's merit review process. From the executive summary:

"The general picture presented by the data is one of a period of relative stability in the rate of proposal submissions and awards since FY 2012, when averaged across NSF as a whole.

In FY 2016, NSF acted on 49,285 competitively reviewed full proposals. This is similar to the number of proposals acted on in FY 2015 (49,620). In FY 2012, two large divisions began requiring the submission of preliminary proposals for most programs within those divisions. The total number of full proposals and preliminary proposals acted on by NSF in FY 2016 (53,869) was very close to the total number of full proposals and preliminary proposals acted on in FY 2015 (53,871).

The Foundation made 11,877 awards in FY 2016, 130 (1.1%) fewer than in FY 2015. This corresponds to a 24% success rate for competitively reviewed proposals... the average funding rate varies by NSF directorate, from a low of 20% in Engineering, to a high of 31% in Geosciences."

The report delves deeper into gender, race, and other PI characteristics.

Full NSB Report on NSF Merit Review Process