Conflict of Interest (COI):

As a Proposal Review Panel (PRP) member, you are obligated to inform the panel chair of any conflicts of interest that may arise with respect to proposals that your panel is set to review. Examples of COIs include:

• PRP member is listed as a participant on the proposal
• PRP member is from the same institution as the proposal author(s)
• PRP member has any commercial or financial interest in the proposed work
• PRP member has a close personal (e.g., family) and/or close professional (e.g., a former student) tie to proposal collaborators or PIs

Confidentiality:

Under no circumstances should PRP members discuss any aspects of PRP business outside of the review meetings. PRP members must not communicate with the authors of a proposal at any time during the review process. Any discussion of PRP business must be strictly limited to other panel members and APS staff as needed for technical advice or improvement of the review process.

Use of AI in the Proposal Review Process:

All peer-review evaluations of APS user science proposals involving the assessment of quality of research plan, scientific merit, significance, rigor, technological and scientific impact, need for the facility, proposal strengths and weaknesses, ranking, scores, and allocation recommendations must originate solely from the reviewer’s own expertise and professional knowledge.

To protect the confidentiality of user proposal content, only secure, Argonne-managed AI tool(s) may be used in the following manner:  AI may be used to assist a reviewer in searching public information, locating and organizing information, and for literature and publication searches, but it may not perform the scientific evaluation itself. AI shall only be used for administrative/supportive activities within the review workflow.

If you wish to utilize AI as part of your proposal review workflow, please contact the APS User Office for assistance. You may NOT under any circumstances upload any APS user proposal information to external, public-facing AI systems.