This page provides a top-level description of the types of JWST proposals and observations and special initiatives for this cycle.

See also: JWST General Observer (GO) Proposals, JWST Survey Proposals, JWST Archival Research (AR) Proposals, JWST Special Initiatives, JWST Observations Needing Special Requirements

Types of JWST proposals

There are four types of JWST proposals:

• General Observer (GO) proposals request new observations and may be submitted for any amount of observing time on JWST.
• Survey programs consist of short-duration observations of a specified large list of targets; there is no completeness guarantee. 
• Archival Research (AR) proposals request funding to support the analysis of archival JWST data, to develop data science software to benefit the community of JWST users, or to financially support theoretical research in support of JWST observational programs. 
• Director's Discretionary (DD) time proposals can be submitted at any time. Details on submitting DD proposals can be found on the JWST Director's Discretionary (DD) Time Proposals page.

All GO, Survey, and AR proposals are peer-reviewed by a Telescope Allocation Committee (TAC), as described in JWST How Your Proposal is Evaluated. 

GO and AR proposals may have additional (optional) flags used to denote particular attributes of the program as described in JWST Additional Flags for GO Proposals and JWST Additional Flags for AR Proposals. Not every GO or AR program will have an additional flag. Different categories and flags have specific requirements for information that needs to be included in the PDF Attachment and APT Proposal Form, as well as different page limits for the PDF Attachment and data exclusive access periods.

Special Initiatives

STScI is pleased to announce the following Special Initiatives for Cycle 6:

• Long-Term Monitoring (LTM);
• JWST-Roman Science (JRS); and
• Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) Precursor Science (HPS).

Additional information, including qualification criteria and proposal requirements, can be found at JWST Special Initiatives.

JWST observation types

JWST observations may be obtained in "prime" or "parallel" modes:

• Prime observations are classically targeted observations that determine the telescope pointing, orientation, and scheduling.
• Parallel observations are taken simultaneously with prime observations, but with a second science instrument. Parallel observations may be proposed for as "pure" or "coordinated" parallel observations. Parallel modes are described below, and additional information can be found at JWST Parallel Observations.

Prime observations

Prime observations can be taken with any of JWST's instruments and supported modes. JWST's observing capabilities are described in Methods and Roadmaps, and information about JWST's instruments and modes can be found in the JDOX Instrument pages.

Parallel observations

Parallel observing refers to simultaneously operating more than a single science instrument (limited to two instruments for Cycle 6). For JWST proposals, there are two basic modes of parallel operations: coordinated parallels and pure parallels. Further information with examples, roadmaps, and templates are provided on JWST Parallel Observations. Related policies can be found on JWST Science Parallel Observation Policies and Guidelines.

Coordinated parallel observations

Coordinated parallel observations are those in which simultaneous observations are made with an instrument other than the primary instrument as part of the same proposal as the prime science. Coordinated observations may be proposed to advance goals that complement or enhance the prime science, but they are not required to be necessary to achieve the prime science goals. Coordinated parallel observations must be clearly described in the "Justify Coordinated Parallel Observations" section of the proposal PDF attachment. Additional information can be found at JWST Parallel Observations.

In Cycle 6, the following coordinated parallel modes will be supported. (Additional instrument combinations may be available in future cycles.)

*Only standard imaging with standard narrow, medium, or broad band filters is allowed for NIRCam and MIRI observations in these coordinated parallel modes.

Please note that NIRISS WFSS with NIRCam WFSS is not supported as a coordinated parallel; however, that combination is possible as a pure parallel (see below).

Pure parallel observations

Pure parallel observations utilize instruments other than the primary instrument on observations from unrelated proposals. Unlike coordinated parallels, pure parallel observations are proposed as entirely separate programs of investigation. Pure parallels use parallel observing slots created by observations of programs that do not use coordinated parallels. Pure parallel observations will not be allowed to influence the dither patterns or other aspects of the observing strategy of the primary observations to which they are attached, since the primary observations will belong to entirely separate science proposals. Additional information can be found at JWST Parallel Observations.

In Cycle 6, the following pure parallel modes will be supported:

For pure parallels, only a single exposure specification is allowed per observation. Pure parallel programs cannot include a ToO component. Proposers are free to submit Director's Discretionary (DD) time programs to follow up on any transients that are detected (note though that the response time will be slower than for a ToO).

For accepted programs, the observations will be paired with suitable prime observations from other programs. Some prime templates cannot have pure parallels attached to them. Proposers should check JWST Parallel Observations for the full list of pure parallel template combinations that are allowed and expected to be available for use in Cycle 6.

The number and characteristics of pure parallel exposure opportunities (slots) will not be known until Cycle 6 selection is complete, but slot data from previous cycles provide a useful reference. For example, an average of 350 prime visits per cycle allowed at least two parallel optical configurations per visit and at least 1,500 seconds of parallel exposure time per configuration, yielding up to 1,400 hours of total exposure time. See the Pure Parallels FAQ section of the JWST Parallel Observations page for more details. Proposers are required to use the jwst-pure-parallel package to assess whether their specific observing scenario would have been viable in previous cycles.

Types of observations needing special requirements

"Special Requirements" include any constraints on the timing (or telescope orientation) for observations which inherently affect the JWST schedule.

Next: JWST General Observer (GO) Proposals