Guide for External Panelists

External panelists will read and grade and provide feedback comments for all proposals that they are assigned. 

Proposals reviewed by the External panels are subject to a one-stage review process.

Review PhaseImportant Dates and DeadlinesDuring 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.  


Tuesday, November 10, 2026, 12pm–2pm ET:
External 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:

Grading & Comments

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 grades and feedback comments

  • Check for and report additional conflicts of interest with your assigned proposals.
  • Read your assigned proposals (a subset of the proposals assigned to your panel).
  • Enter numerical scores as grades for each proposal you are assigned in SPIRIT.
  • Write brief proposal feedback comments (strengths and weaknesses) for each proposal you are assigned, which are relayed to the proposers.
  • STScI will use the grades received by each reviewer assigned to each proposal to rank the proposals in the panel. The top-ranked proposals will be recommended for acceptance.

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.

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 Discussion Panelists



Notable updates


Originally published