NSF Launches a Research.gov Demo Site

Thu, 16 Jan 2014 14:08:21 -0500

From the NSF: Colleagues, We are pleased to announce the launch of the Research.gov Demo Site in order to further improve the project reporting process. The Research.gov Demo Site provides National Science Foundation (NSF) awardees (specifically PIs, co-PIs and Sponsored Project Office staff) the opportunity to explore and familiarize themselves with preparing, submitting, and reviewing NSF project reports without actually submitting a real report. Since the transition of project reporting from FastLane to Research.gov, the Research.gov Team has been working diligently with NSF Staff and Awardees to identify and implement solutions to the challenges faced by the research community when submitting project reports. As part of this effort, the Team heard how helpful awardees find the FastLane Demo Site and has prioritized and developed a Research.gov Demo Site. The Demo Site will help reduce user confusion around submitting a project report by providing a platform for practicing how to use the tool. Additionally, the Research.gov Team is developing an instructional video tutorial on submitting project reports to assist NSF awardees. While NSF awardees can practice preparing, submitting and reviewing NSF project reports on the Demo Site, not all functionality available in Research.gov is available in the Demo site, including:

Project Outcomes Reports and previously submitted reports will not be accessible

Submission confirmation emails will not get sent

The search performed against Thompson Web of Science will only produce sample results

The Check Report Completeness link will produce a sample list of missing information (will not display missing fields from the demo report).

Updates you make to the example reports will be saved but can be overwritten by other user sessions, and the example reports are reset nightly

Where should PIs go for help with project reports?

Online Help

Project Report Informational Page

NSF Help Desk

You can receive further information on the Research.gov Demo Site via one of our webinars. We will be hosting a webinar on Thursday, January 16, 10:30AM – 11:30AM and Wednesday, January 22, 2:30PM – 3:30PM. To join, simply click on one the following links prior to a webinars’ start date and enter the password research:
*January 16: https://nsfevents.webex.com/nsfevents/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=748048236

*January 22: https://nsfevents.webex.com/nsfevents/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=743779060
Thank you again for your feedback as we continue to improve Research.gov. We look forward to continuing to serve the research community in the future. Sincerely, The Research.gov Team