1-    Call Announcement

In general, funding opportunities are announced both in the NSFC Guide to Programs and through Call for Proposals (CFP) on the NSFC website. Usually any CFP should be announced at least one month ahead of the start date of the submission period.

2-    Application Submission

In response to the CFP, applicants submit applications first to their host institutions for approval via the NSFC ISISN system. Then the host institutions will be responsible for approving and submitting the applications to the NSFC.

3-    Eligibility Check

Once the applications are received by NSFC, eligibility checks will be carried out in accordance with relevant qualification requirements of different programs. The results of eligibility checks will be notified to the applicants, specifying whether the applications are accepted for review or rejected without review.

If the applicant disagrees with a rejection, he or she is allowed to submit a complaint or request for eligibility recheck. NSFC needs to handle such requests within 60 days and reserves the right to carry out the eligibility recheck or reject the request in line with related regulations.

Review Process

NSFC adopts a two-step review mechanism for the majority of proposals received, which consists of mail review and panel review. For mail review, each application will be assigned to at least three reviewers in related scientific filed from the expert database. Based on the results and comments of mail review, the applications will be ranked by the NSFC. Applications will be further assessed by panel review at which a shortlist of applications will be recommended for funding.  

Funding Decision

The final funding decision will be made by NSFC based on the panel recommendations. The funding decision will be notified to the applicants and the review comments of each application will be provided to the applicants as well.

If the applicant disagrees with the funding decision, he or she is allowed to submit a complaint or request for secondary review. NSFC needs to handle such requests within 60 days and reserves the right to carry out the secondary review or reject the request in line with related regulations.