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Proposal Guidance

Updated: May 2025

This guidance is for authors submitting a full proposal in response to the Large-Scale Research call, EMSL-ARM FICUS call, and Exploratory Research call. Full proposals for these calls may only be submitted by invitation following a successful letter of intent (LOI). Applicants should read the following guidance carefully. Failure to comply with the requirements will result in proposals being returned without review. 

Proposals must be submitted electronically through the EMSL User Portal. The online form for full proposal submission will require the same information as the LOI (see LOI Guidance), and these fields will be prepopulated with the information provided in your LOI. All previously entered information from the LOI can be modified if needed. 

The online form for full proposal submission will contain a new “Resources” section for detailed information about requested resources. Researchers are encouraged to contact or continue discussions with EMSL scientific staff regarding their research goals and resource needs. For help identifying the appropriate contacts, see the contacts identified in the proposal call announcement or contact User Program Services. 

Proposed Research Document 

The most recent version of EMSL’s Full Proposed Research Template must be downloaded and completed for proposals to be considered for review. This document will be uploaded as a single PDF file to the “Proposed Research” section in the EMSL User Portal and needs to use the exact formatting in the template, containing the five parts described below. For proposals submitted to calls utilizing dual anonymous peer review, EMSL User Program Services will extract the anonymous parts from this document for peer review. 

  • Project Description (required). The Project Description should provide details about the proposed research including the title, specific aims, mission relevance, background, and approach/work plan. Detailed guidance is provided below and in the Full Proposed Research template. This section has a maximum of 4 pages with pagination required. For calls utilizing dual anonymous peer review, this section must be anonymized by the author. 
  • Appendix 1: EMSL Samples and Resources (required). Fill out the table with details about your samples, including the specific resources or instruments being requested at EMSL. For EMSL’s purposes, a sample is any material intended to be analyzed or used with EMSL resources. For 9-month Exploratory Research projects, select Year 1 as the project year. 
  • Appendix 2: Computing, Analytics, and Modeling Approach. Only required if EMSL’s Computing, Analytics, and Modeling (CAM) resources and expertise are requested. Provide a written description of the proposed computational method or approach and the software to be used (1-page maximum). Complete the Computing Resource Request Table included in the Full Proposed Research template. Guidance for completing the table is provided in the template. The form does not count toward the page limit. For calls utilizing dual anonymous peer review, this section must be anonymized by the author. 
  • Appendix 3: List of References (required). List all bibliographic citations following accepted scholarly practices when providing citations for source materials cited in any section of the proposal. Each reference must include the names of all authors (in the same sequence in which they appear in the publication), the article and journal title, the book title, the volume number, page numbers, and the year of publication. Do not indicate which authors are members of the research team submitting the proposal. If the document is available electronically, the website address should also be identified. In-text citations must use numbered formatting with brackets (i.e., [1] or [2-5]) corresponding to the full citation listed. This section does not have a page limit but must not be used to provide parenthetical information outside the 4-page Project Description or 1-page Computing Approach. 
  • Appendix 4: CVs (required). Provide abbreviated CVs for the PI and each co-I (2-page maximum per person). CVs are not required for participants identified as “Team Members.” 
  • Appendix 5: Active Collaborators List (required). Provide a list of active collaborators and individuals who may represent a conflict of interest for the PI and co-I(s) from the past 2 years. Conflicts of interest are not required for participants identified as “Team Members.” Participation in very large collaborative efforts with an individual does not necessarily constitute a conflict of interest. Identify those who would have a personal interest in this proposal or whose unbiased judgment would be questioned by a reasonable person familiar with your relationship. 
  • Appendix 6: ARM Resources. Only required for ARM-EMSL FICUS proposals. Identify the resources (e.g., facilities, instrumentation, logistical support, guest instrument support, special instrument scanning strategies, enhanced soundings, data products, etc.) being requested from the ARM Facility. Please note that the ARM Facility does not purchase equipment in support of individual field campaigns or upgrade infrastructure other than its own. 
  • Appendix 7: ARM Data Management Plan. Only required for ARM-EMSL FICUS proposals. Clearly indicate what data products will be submitted to the ARM Data Archive. For collaborative purposes, indicate the collaborating agency’s data policy and how data will be shared with the ARM community. Note: Routine ARM data are available to all participants from the ARM Data Archive on a free and open basis as they become available, while data and documentation from PI/guest instrument deployments must be submitted to the ARM Data Archive no later than 6 months after the end of the campaign. 

Document Formatting Requirements 

The Full Proposed Research Template is set up to conform to the formatting requirements listed below. You must make sure that the final uploaded document adheres to these formatting requirements. 

  • Font size. Main text and headers no smaller than 11 points. Captions, symbols, and special characters may be less than 11 points. 
  • Margins. 1-inch margins (top, bottom, left, and right). 
  • Line spacing. No more than 5 lines of text within a vertical space of 1 inch. 
  • Columns. Single-column format for text. 
  • Page limit. The Project Description has a 4-page limit. The written description of the Computing Approach has a 1-page limit, and each CV is limited to 2 pages. 

Project Description Guidance 

The Project Description should be written at a level appropriate for someone familiar with your general area of research who is not necessarily an expert on the specific topic. For calls with dual anonymous peer review, the entire Project Description must be anonymized by the submitter. Suggested word counts are provided below. Authors may deviate from these suggestions, but the whole Project Description cannot exceed 4 pages. Visual materials and tables must be included in the 4-page limit. The abstract submitted in the web-based proposal form does not count against the 4-page limit and should not be repeated in your Project Description. 

The Project Description should include the following sections: 

  • Title. The project title must be brief, scientifically or technically valid, intelligible to a scientifically or technically literate reader, and suitable for use in the public press. 
  • Specific Aims (~250 words). State the specific objectives of the research proposed (e.g., test a stated hypothesis, solve a specific problem, challenge an existing paradigm, address a critical barrier to progress in the field, or develop new technology), providing concise and unambiguous detail. 
  • Mission Relevance (~100 words). Explain how your research addresses EMSL’s mission (and, if relevant, ARM’s mission) and advances the science pertinent to DOE’s Biological and Environmental Research program, and describe the value/impact of its economic or societal importance. 
  • Background (~400 words). Provide a concise discussion of previous work to clarify the research problem, why you want to do this study, and exactly what has been accomplished and to demonstrate why the studies need to be continued. 
  • Approach or Work Plan (~1500 words). Describe the work to be conducted at EMSL (and ARM, if relevant) for the entire project duration, including any preliminary measurements or completed tests that validate the approach. Include in-text, numbered references when relevant with full citations listed in Appendix 3. Provide a sample description (including unique characteristics such as transgenic biological material, dilute solution, environmental samples containing contaminants, etc.) and total numbers of samples with a breakdown of samples per experimental group. Detail any relevant sampling characteristics such as field sites, soil cores, organism/strain, sampling time point, etc. Describe the types of analyses to be performed, including planned data analysis relevant for the proposed work. Detail the expected contributions of EMSL and/or ARM and identify which team members will be doing each portion of the work plan using anonymized identifiers (such as PI 1, co-I 2, or Grad Student 1). If your research includes computation, provide an estimate of the computational resources needed, a description of the software involved, and a description of the team’s experience with the computational methods and software. Demonstrate why your project requires the requested resources and cannot be done elsewhere. If your proposal is accepted, EMSL and/or ARM staff will work with you to define your needs in detail based on current capabilities. For projects expected to require more than one year to complete, clearly delineate work activities for each year. 

Anonymization 

For calls using dual anonymous peer review, the Title, Abstract, Project Description, and References must be written in an anonymous format that does not explicitly identify the names of team members or their institutions. EMSL is no longer screening proposals for compliance with the anonymization requirements, and there will be no opportunity to submit corrections after the deadline. Failure to follow anonymization guidance may impact a reviewer’s opinions of your proposal. Details and examples can be found on the dual anonymous guidance page. 

Contacts 

For questions about the proposal submission process, please contact User Program Services. 

For technical help with NEXUS, please contact NEXUS Support. 

For scientific questions, contact the EMSL staff identified in the focus topics or highlighted capabilities of the proposal call. For scientific questions related to EMSL-ARM FICUS submissions, please contact Swarup China (EMSL) or Jim Mather (ARM).