Proposer Guidelines for NASA Keck Dual Anonymous Reviews

The NASA Keck proposal review process uses a Dual Anonymous Proposal Review (DAPR) format. The DAPR conceals the proposers' identities from the Telescope Allocation Committee (TAC) and, as has always been the case, NASA Keck TAC member identities remain anonymous. The NASA Keck proposal review process is managed for NASA by the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute (NExScI) at Caltech/IPAC.

These guidelines are intended to assist proposers in preparing their DAPR proposals and help ensure a fairer proposal evaluation process. These guidelines do not replace the Call for Proposals which should be read for complete details on applying for NASA Keck time.

Proposers must confirm on the proposal submission site that their proposal is DAPR compliant. We suggest leaving time before the submission deadline to double check that your proposal is DAPR compliant. If the TAC or a NExScI staff member finds DAPR a violation, the proposal is subject to rejection. The NASA Keck Selecting Official will make the final decision on the severity of the violation and determine if the proposal will be reviewed or rejected.

NExScI acknowledges that some proposed work may be so specialized that, despite attempts to anonymize the proposal, the identities of the Principal Investigator and team members are readily discernable. As long as the guidelines are followed, NASA/NExScI will consider these proposals for review without prejudice .

After proposal submission, you will receive a confirmation email that has two versions of your proposal attached: the anonymized Science Program with the anonymous coversheet information, and the non-anonymized version with the Expertise and Access document and the non-anonymous coversheet information and the WMKO coversheet. If you see errors in either, you may resubmit your proposal up until the proposal deadline. If you do not receive a confirmation email, contact NExScI.

The information on the separate non-anonymized Expertise and Access (E&A) document (see section below) for the top-ranked proposals will be shown to the TAC only after the science and strategic evaluation, grading, and ranking of all proposals. This information will be used by the TAC to determine if the team is qualified to complete the proposed program. The E&A document will includes information on the PI and team as well as any institutional access to Keck and/or Subaru time (if applicable).

Proposal Submission

Proposals are submitted through the online website. A complete proposal will have:

• Anonymized Science Program prepared using the required template (available in Word or Latex format).
• Non-anonymized Expertise and Access Document prepared using the required template (available in Word or Latex format).
• WMKO Coversheet (in PDF format)

Writing the Anonymized Science Program

Proposers are required to write the proposal abstract and the Science Program in an anonymized format using this template, provided in Word and Latex.

Below are some guidelines to help with the anonymization process.

• Proposers should be able to make their case through the description of the proposed observing program and method of analysis that they have the necessary skills to achieve success; if specific skills are required, the panel will flag that and will be able to verify this after seeing the Expertise and Access document.
• Limit the usage of words such as "we" and "our" in the proposal text. Instead of "our program" say "this program."
• Do not include author names or affiliations anywhere in the anonymized Science Program. This includes but is not limited to, page headers, footers, diagrams, or figures. This does not include references to past work, which should be included whenever relevant.
• Previous and/or related work can be discussed, however they should be described without attribution to a particular investigator or group.
• Do not claim ownership of past work, e.g., "my previously funded work..." or "Our prior analysis demonstrates that..." Instead simply say "previous work".
• When citing references use third person neutral wording. This especially applies to self-referencing. For example, replace phrases like "as we have shown in our previous work (Gelino, 2021), …" with "as shown in Gelino (2021), ..."
• Do not include URLs or YouTube links in the proposal text, footnotes, references, etc. that might identify the PI or a team member.
• Do not refer to previous observing programs using Keck or other observatories in an identifying fashion. For instance, rather than write "we observed another cluster, similar to the one we are proposing," instead write "Keck in month/year observed this target..." Similarly, do not cite specific program numbers (e.g. JWST program #) as this can be identifying.
• Another common situation that occurs in proposals is when one or more team members have institutional access to unique facilities (e.g., an observatory or laboratory) that are required to accomplish the proposed work. See section on "Access to Keck and/or Subaru Time" below for instructions on how this should be handled.
• Depending on the proposed research, it may be important to cite exclusive access datasets, non-public software, unpublished data, or findings that have been presented in public but are not citable. Each of these may reveal (or strongly imply) the identity of the investigators on the proposal. In these instances, proposers must use language such as "obtained in private communication" or "from private consultation" when referring to such potentially identifying work. Do NOT include the name of the person when noting this.
• Work that is "submitted" but not yet on arXiv or a similar site that would likely identify the team should be referenced as “private communication." Do NOT include the name of the person when noting "private communication." Please note that references to "submitted" work IS allowed in the non-anonymous E&A document, just NOT in the anonymous Science Program.

It takes some effort by authors to anonymize their PDF submissions. Take sufficient time to prepare a DAPR compliant proposal.

Example Text for Anonymized Science Programs

Writing the Non-anonymized Expertise and Access (E&A) Document

As part of the DAPR process, NExScI is requiring that proposers submit an Expertise and Access (E&A) document in addition the anonymized Science Program. The E&A document is non-anonymized and must use the following template, provided in (Word) or (Latex.) See the Call for Proposals for detailed information on the sections in the E&A document.

Team Expertise

The one-page team expertise document should include the team's expertise in the following: Keck instrumentation, data reduction and analysis/modeling, and observational experience. For proposals with a large number of Co-Investigators, it is not necessary to report on the qualifications of every team member, only those conducting major aspects of the proposed study. Biographies of team members do not need to be included.

An example of the Team Expertise section of the E&A document is:

Dr. Jane Doe has expertise in Keck data reduction for HIRES, the prime instrument for the proposed observations. Dr. Doe is an expert in exoplanet transit events and has led several past Keck programs resulting in 5 papers published on detecting planetary transits with Keck HIRES. Dr. John Doe is an expert in computational simulation of planetary transits. Sarah Smith is a graduate student working with Dr. Jane Doe.

Access to Keck and/or Subaru Time

PIs and Co-Is applying for NASA Keck time may have access to Keck/Subaru time through their own institutions. This information can also be included in the anonymized Science Program, however in that document, it must be written in a way that does not identify any team members.

The online submission site includes a question about the level of access to Keck/Subaru time of the proposing team and how that time is being used (or not) for the proposed program. This access must be more fully explained in this section of the E&A document.

If no team members have access to Keck/Subaru time through their home institutions, please state that in this section.

Here are some examples:

"The team has access to telescope time on the W. M. Keck Observatory, which will enable spectroscopic follow-up of the galaxies in the sample. The NASA time requested for this proposal is to gather complementary imaging data that could not be accommodated through access to their own TAC."

"The PI is a graduate student at an institution with Keck access that does not allow graduate students to apply for Keck time through their TAC."

"Neither the PI nor any of the Co-Is have access to Keck through non-NASA partners."

Progress Report for Ongoing or Recently Completed Keck Projects AND Status of Allocated Time on Large Telescopes

Please summarize the PI's and key Co-I's current involvement on existing Keck research programs to inform the reviewers of the status of completed and planned observations, data analysis, and publications. A similar summary should be made for other relevant large or space-based telescope time that has been awarded during the past two years.

Requests to Extend Period of Exclusive Data Use

The default period of exclusive data use for NASA Keck data is 12-months. Requests for extensions to this default period must meet the criteria in Section V of the Call for Proposals

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(last updated September 5th, 2024 14:07:52)