GUIDE FOR REVIEWERS
1. Introduction
The Portuguese Polar Program (PROPOLAR) is the national body that manages logistics and access to the Arctic and Antarctica. PROPOLAR is funded by the national science-funding agency, the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, I.P.), part of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education.
PROPOLAR has initiated the annual call for project proposals providing funding for mobility and access to the Polar regions in 2024-2025.
The present Call will fund three types of projects:
(i) research projects in the Antarctic (project typology A),
(ii) research projects in the Arctic (project typology B), and
(iii) Laboratory research projects in foreign institutions (project typology C).
In order to ensure independence and support for highly competitive proposals according to international standards, PROPOLAR submits each project to scientific evaluation by a panel of independent international and national experts as referees.
The proposals sent to reviewers have been pre-evaluated in accordance with the logistic possibilities of PROPOLAR and the requirements of the Antarctic Treaty System. Thus, the referee evaluation should focus on the scientific and methodological aspects so that the proposals can be ranked and selected based on their scientific quality. Conflict of interests must be communicated to PROPOLAR.
The evaluation of a proposal is estimated to take 30 to 60 minutes.
For each proposal, the Principal Investigator must have a PhD and be affiliated to a Portuguese institution (i.e. University, Research Institute).
PROPOLAR funds travel costs between Portugal and the research site, while enabling logistical support, either with partner programs (Antarctic) or through (co)funding for accommodation (Arctic). PROPOLAR also funds proposals that require access to laboratories abroad to allow analysis of samples collected in polar campaigns that involve procedures that cannot be conducted in Portugal. PROPOLAR awards up to 4.25k euro per researcher conducting field work, and applicants must seek co-funding if required. A maximum of 2 researchers is funded per project, and one of them must be early career researcher enrolled in a masters or doctoral programme, or holding a postdoc for less than 5 years.
Logistics for larger teams in the Antarctic may be supported if co-funding is provided by the applicants.
To encourage and facilitate the dissemination of results and participation in international scientific conferences, through oral or poster communications, PROPOLAR provides optional funding for travel, accommodation and conference registration costs, of up to 0.5 k euro per project, awarded to an early career scientist included in the project’s team. The early career scientist must be the first author of the work to be presented.
2. Structure of project proposals
PROPOLAR project proposals are submitted online and include:
- Title of project proposal (both in English and Portuguese)
- Type of research project (Field work in the Arctic or Antarctica, or Laboratory research projects in foreign institutions)
- Scientific area
- Keywords – max. 4
- Identification of the project’s team
- Abstract (both in English and Portuguese) – max. 1000 characters
- Objectives – max. 1000 characters
- Rationale – max 2000 characters
- Work plan and expected results – max. 6000 characters
- Previous PROPOLAR funded projects (from 2019-20 to 2021-22), and resulting scientific publications in journals indexed in the WoS and SCOPUS systems, as well as Education and Outreach activities
- Equipment to be deployed
- Project budget and logistics justification – max. 3000 characters
- Additional information for the early career researcher that applied for conference support
- Proposed research sites and dates
- Relevant publications by the team, with DOI (max. 10)
- Cited references, with DOI (max. 10)
- Participation in education and outreach activities
The proposal must include a short CV of the Principal Investigator (PI), and links to the complete CVs for all members of the team (e.g. ORCID).
Proposals by a PI with previous PROPOLAR funded projects executed from 2019-20 to 2021-22, that did not publish peer-reviewed publications, will be penalized in 40%. Likewise, projects that have not contributed with illustrated texts for dissemination in the PROPOLAR website, will also be penalized by 20% on the final classification. These penalizations will be calculated and attributed by PROPOLAR.
Once the proposals are submitted, a pdf file is generated to be sent for revision.
3. Review Process
The review of the proposals follows two sequential steps:
Step 1 – Logistical evaluation and preliminary environmental impact analysis: PROPOLAR will assess the logistical feasibility of the proposal and its framing within the Antarctic Treaty System environmental regulations. The PIs may be contacted for clarification, if necessary. Approved proposals will proceed to step 2.
Step 2 – Scientific and Technical evaluation: The assessment of the scientific and technical quality of the proposal is performed anonymously by three independent national or international reviewers.
4. Scientific and Technical Evaluation
Each reviewer is invited to review the proposal according to four criteria (A-D below). Each criterion is scored 1 (low) to 5 (high) and reviewers are asked to write a short comment (minimum 100 characters) to include in the communication of the results. Criteria are weighted as follows:
A. SCIENTIFIC QUALITY OF THE PROPOSAL (35%)
B. RESEARCH TEAM (25%)
C. FEASIBILITY OF THE PROPOSAL (25%)
D. ADVANCED TRAINING (15%)
The aspects to be considered for each criterion are listed below.
A - SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL QUALITY (35%)
• Scientific and technical quality of the proposal
• Contribution to advancing scientific knowledge
• Innovative and original aspects
• Methodology
• Expected results
B - RESEARCH TEAM (25%)
• Expertise of the research team to adequately execute the proposal
• Suitability of the research team’s publications within the scientific topic of the proposal
C - FEASIBILITY OF THE PROPOSAL (25%)
• The fieldwork is adequate to the objectives of the proposal
• The proposal is feasible within the proposed time period for fieldwork
D - ADVANCED TRAINING (15%)
• The proposal contributes to the training of young researchers (postgraduates). The request for funding for conference participation is optional. Therefore, the choice of the research teams to apply for this extra funding cannot be considered for the evaluation of this criterion, as research teams can use other sources of funding to cover expenses related to participation in international scientific conferences.
The scores and comments are to be filled in a form which is sent to the reviewers along with the proposals to be evaluated. The classification of each reviewer will be sum of the weighted average of the scores obtained for each criterion, weighted to an overall score rating of 100 points. The final classification of the proposal will be the average of the final scores provided by each of the reviewers.
We would be grateful to receive your review by 4th June 2025. Once you have completed and signed the evaluation form, including your validation signature, please click the "Submit" button to ensure we receive your evaluation.
5. Final remarks
After receiving the reviews, PROPOLAR will communicate to each PI the final ranking of the proposals and the comments made by each reviewer. The comments will be anonymous.
According to the Portuguese law, the PIs have 10 days for a scientific rebuttal. If a rebuttal is received, PROPOLAR will send the PI’s comments to the reviewers, who are requested to take them into consideration and to modify or maintain their review accordingly. This latter decision will be final.
Go to the next page to start the evaluation.
Thank you!