Guide for Discussion Panelists

Discussion panelists will read and grade all proposals that they are assigned and will write feedback comments for a subset of those. They also advise their Panel Chair and Vice Chair on a subset of the Large GO, Treasury GO, Legacy AR, and Pure Parallel proposals assigned for review to the Executive Committee.  Proposals reviewed by the Discussion panels are subject to a two-stage review process: (1) Asynchronous Preliminary Grading; (2) The face-to-face online Discussion Panel Meeting, the outcome of which is the ranked list of recommended proposals and the Proposal Feedback Comments.

Review Phase

Important Dates and Deadlines

During this phase, you will...

Links to relevant resources

Prep Work & General Info

Wednesday, September 30, 2026, 8pm ET:
JWST proposal submission deadline

Note: Deadline was extended to October 1, 2026, 5pm ET.  


Monday, November 9, 2026, 12pm–2pm ET:
Discussion Panelist Orientation


  • Familiarize yourself with the review process, JWST and its instruments, the types of proposals you will be reviewing, and who to ask for help!

Roles and Responsibilities: 

Preliminary Grading

Wednesday, November 11, 2026:
SPD to release proposals and assignments


Wednesday, November 18, 2026:
Deadline to check for and report additional conflicts of interest


Friday, January 8, 2027:
Deadline for preliminary grades

  • Be assigned as a Grader for a subset of the proposals assigned to your panel.
  • Check for and report additional conflicts of interest with any of your assigned proposals ASAP.
  • Read all of your assigned proposals.
  • Enter numerical scores as preliminary grades for all of your assigned proposals in SPIRIT.
  • Use "Shared Remarks” section in SPIRIT to write down your comments on the proposal. This information will be used by the Primary and Secondary Reviewers at the time of writing the feedback comments, and is particularly useful in the case the proposal is triaged and not discussed during the meeting. 

Report to the Science Policy Division, the PSS, or the Panel Manager any proposal that you think should be disqualified for violating proposal guidelines (e.g., DAPR, page limits, template changes, GAI, etc.). Not doing so in a timely manner (i.e., waiting to report it until after the proposal has been discussed) wastes precious review resources if the proposal ends up being disqualified.

STScI will use the grades received by each reviewer assigned to each proposal to rank the proposals and triage the panel so that only the top proposals are discussed in the Panel Meeting.

Additionally, you will:

  • Be designated as Primary Reviewer or Secondary Reviewer to a fraction of your grading assignments.

These designations are only relevant later, but it is helpful to take notes summarizing the strengths and weaknesses for your primary/secondary designations during this phase as you will be 1) leading the discussion of these proposals during the meeting, if they survive triage; 2) writing feedback comments on these proposals, regardless of triage status.

Useful topics from previous phases:

Pre-Meeting


Friday, January 15, 2027:
SPD to release lists of which proposals will be discussed by the panels


Thursday, January 21, 2027, 12pm–1pm ET:
Discussion Panelist Q&A


  • Prepare for the Panel Meeting.
  • Review all proposals listed for discussion, especially those you did not read for preliminary grading.
  • If you wish to raise a triaged proposal for discussion, let your Chair know no later than one week before the panel meets.
  • Read the subset of Executive Committee  proposals, as directed by your Chair and Vice Chair (these proposals will be discussed, but not graded during the Panel Meeting). 

Useful topics from previous phases:

Panel Meeting

Monday–Thursday, February 1–4, 2027, 10am–4pm ET:
Panel Meetings for Galactic Panels
(i.e.,  Solar System Astronomy, Exoplanet Atmospheres and Habitability, Exoplanetary Systems and Dynamics, Stars and Stellar Populations, Interstellar Gas and Dust)


Tuesday–Friday, February 2–5, 2027, 10am–4pm ET:
Panel Meetings for Extragalactic Panels
(i.e., Galaxy Evolution and the Nearby Universe, Galaxy Frontiers and the Distant Universe, Super Massive Black Holes and Active Galaxies)


You will only need to attend during the four (4) days of your Panel Meeting.

  • Discuss proposals in turn and enter numerical scores as grades after each discussion.
  • Use "Shared Remarks” section in SPIRIT to write down your comments on the proposal, while the discussion is still fresh in your mind. This information will be used by the Primary and Secondary Reviewers at the time of writing the feedback comments.
  • Create a ranked list of the proposals discussed.
  • Assess the final ranking of proposals for science balance.
  • Review team expertise for top ranked proposals once the ranking is finalized.
  • Discuss (but not grade) a subset of Large GO, Treasury GO, Legacy AR, and Pure Parallel programs to provide feedback to your panel Chair and Vice Chair that they can bring to the Executive Committee. 

Useful topics from previous phases:

Post-Meeting


Wednesday, February 10, 2027:
Deadline for proposal comments for Discussion panelists


Wednesday, February 17, 2027:
Deadline for EC sign-off of discussion comments

  • Write proposal feedback comments for every primary assignment (including triaged proposals). 
  • Assist the primary reviewer with proposal feedback comments for every secondary assignment.

Reviewers are forbidden from using Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) tools to assist with any part of their reviews since this violates the confidentiality of the review process. This means that it is forbidden to upload proposal contents or review materials to GAI tools. It is also forbidden to upload your written comments to GAI tools for the purpose of constructing your final review or polishing the language.

Please remember to remove review materials from your computer after the review.

Useful topics from previous phases:

Notifications

Early to mid-March 2027:
STScI releases Cycle 6 Science Program.




Next: Guide for Chairs and Vice Chairs


Notable updates


Originally published