Conflicts and Confidentiality in the Review Process

The review process relies on the scientific community to evaluate proposals based on their scientific merit and to make recommendations regarding time allocation. The process must be robust and free of real or perceived conflicts of interest and must maintain confidentiality. This section details conflicts of interest and confidentiality policies associated with the proposal evaluation and time allocation process.

For the purposes of the Observatory proposal evaluation and time allocation process, an individual is considered to have a potential conflict of interest if one or more of the following is true:

  1. They are a PI or a co-I on a proposal under consideration.

  2. They are affiliated with the same department as the PI or a co-I on a proposal under consideration. This may be relaxed depending on the nature of the relationship between the reviewer and PI/co-I (e.g., a large department with little interaction).

  3. They are a spouse, partner or other family member of a proposal author.

  4. They are a current or recent collaborator of a proposal author (within the last five years).

  5. They are a former student or advisor of a proposal author (within the last five years).

  6. They have any other reason to believe they cannot render a fair and impartial judgment on the scientific merit of the proposal.

In order to ensure that all proposals are treated fairly and without bias, such potential conflicts must be identified and declared. The response to a conflict depends on the role of the participant. The details are available online at https://science.nrao.edu/observing/proposal-types/coi.

Reviewers shall not upload proposals to AI services, as this violates the Observatory's confidentiality policy (Section 5.5.3). Similarly, AI shall not be used to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of a proposal. Reviewers may use AI services to improve the readability of the text written by the reviewer.

Connect with NRAO

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory and Green Bank Observatory are facilities of the U.S. National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

Founded in 1956, the NRAO provides state-of-the-art radio telescope facilities for use by the international scientific community. NRAO telescopes are open to all astronomers regardless of institutional or national affiliation. Observing time on NRAO telescopes is available on a competitive basis to qualified scientists after evaluation of research proposals on the basis of scientific merit, the capability of the instruments to do the work, and the availability of the telescope during the requested time. NRAO also provides both formal and informal programs in education and public outreach for teachers, students, the general public, and the media.

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