NSF Research.gov

Research.gov is the National Science Foundation's (NSF) online platform through which NSF conducts business. For researchers, Research.gov is a user-friendly proposal creation and submission system.

Below is information on how to get started using Research.gov.

Research.gov set up steps

  • Principal investigators must first register an account with Research.gov. When registering for an account, please use your University email address as the primary email address on the account.
  • After completing the account registration form and clicking Save & Preview, you will be taken to the Preview Account Registration screen to review your information and Submit your account registration.
  • Check the primary email account that you used for two messages: one containing your new NSF ID and another containing your temporary password. Login to Research.gov using the temporary password and reset your password.
  • After completing the resetting of your password, you will be prompted to set up a multifactor authentication method.
  • Next, researchers must request a role and link their account to the University. Select "My Profile" located on the top right of the screen. Select “Add a New Role" on the left navigation bar.
  • An account is not active until it is approved by Sponsored Projects. After requesting a role, Sponsored Projects will receive an email notification from NSF indicating that an account was created and approval is needed. Once the account is approved, the principal investigator can then utilize Research.gov.

Creating a proposal using Research.gov

Prior to beginning an NSF proposal, principal investigators should be familiar with the NSF proposal guidelines found in the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide.

  1. Sign in to Research.gov. You will land on the My Desktop
  2. From My Desktop, click on Prepare and Submit Proposalsin the Proposals section of the screen.
  3. Click Prepare New and select the proposal submission type.
  4. Locate the correct funding opportunity and begin setting up the proposal.

Upload Research.gov application to InfoEd and route for internal approval and submission

Once the Research.gov application is ready for submission, the proposal application must then be recorded in InfoEd, the University’s grant proposal tracking system. When recording the proposal in InfoEd, be sure to upload a PDF of the entire Research.gov application on the InfoEd Proposal Docs & Forms screen. Once the InfoEd proposal record is complete, route it for internal approval. After all internal approvals have been satisfied in InfoEd, a Sponsored Projects research administrator will contact the principal investigator regarding the proposal review and submission.

After submission to NSF

After a proposal has been submitted to NSF, the principal investigator can sign in to Research.gov to check the status of their proposal. Upon signing in to Research.gov, click Proposal Status under the Proposals section.