Frequently Asked Questions

1. General Search Tips

Detailed information is available on Simple Search, Advanced Search and Wildcard Searches

2. Viewing Results

By default, search results are displayed in list format. You can switch to a tabular view of the data by clicking on the "Table" icon at the top of the results list.
In table view, you can select which columns to display by using the "Customize Columns" feature.

3. What does the "Relevance" score mean?

Relevance is a score assigned by the search engine. It is based on how frequently the query terms appears in the document as well as other factors. The score is given in comparison to other documents found by the search.

4. Exporting Results

Up to 3,000 results can be immediately exported in one of the supported formats (CSV, XML, Excel and Text). If you have sorted the result set (e.g. by award number or dollar amount), that order will be preserved in the export.
For searches returning more than 3,000 results, you can also get a complete set of results (XML format only), by selecting the "Export All" feature. Because this file can be very large, processing takes place in off-hours. Please enter your email address to be sent a link when the export file is ready for download. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose. Awards made in a given calendar year are available on the Download Awards page.

5. Recovery Act (ARRA) Awards

To find Recovery Act awards, click on the "ARRA Awards" link on the Popular Searches page.

6. Copyright

Award data posted on the NSF web site, including award abstract text, is in the public domain and not subject to copyright. Publications and conference proceedings listed as resulting from an award are subject to copyright as indicated by the publisher.

7. Obtaining copies of proposals

The Award Search provides only the abstracts for awards. The proposals themselves are the confidential intellectual property of the submitting organizations. The easiest way to get a copy of a proposal is to contact the primary investigator for the award and ask that person if he or she will share it with you. Example proposals are available in NSF's FastLane demo system.

8. Cookies

This application uses session cookies to "remember" search values as individual users navigate between the various search tabs. The session variables are used only for the duration of the individual session and only for navigation within the application. No personally identifiable information is collected, and no information is retained by NSF after the session is complete. All information will be handled in accordance with the NSF Privacy Policy.

9. Browser Compatibility

The application is compatible with Internet Explorer versions 7 and above, Mozilla Firefox versions 3.6 and above and Safari versions 5 and above.

10. No Results on the Last Page

Our search engine predicts the total number of results and is accurate up to the first 3,000 results. Past that number, the results might vary by a small margin. If you don't find results on the last page, please click on the Previous page for results.

11. My old bookmark doesn't work

If you are trying to access a bookmark from the previous version of the application, please note that the application has been revamped and some of the searches have either been discontinued or modified to serve you better. Please bookmark the links from this version of the application for future access.

12. How do I search for multiple award numbers?

Enter the numbers into the form on the Simple search page. The numbers should be separated by spaces, not commas.

13. More Help

If you are not getting the results you expect, please use the comment form to give us much detail as you can about the search you are performing. We will try to resolve the problem for you. If you want to be contacted on your issue, please provide your email address.

14. Public Access requirement

Per NSF's Public Access Plan , journals submitted in the NSF Public Access Repository (NSF-PAR) will be displayed on the Award detail section. A link to view the citations details via NSF-PAR will be provided. If the journal is available electronically from the publisher, the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) hyperlink will also be available for the publisher-maintained site. For additional information on Public Access, please refer to Public Access FAQs .

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