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Postdoctoral Fellowship Proposal
Reference Letter Submission Module Guide
• As of August 31, 2023, the following postdoctoral fellowship programs require nominated reference
letter authors to submit reference letters in the Reference Letter Submission module in Research.gov:
▪ Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology (PRFB)
▪ Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (MSPRF)
• Reference letter authors must have an NSF account in Research.gov to access the Reference Letter
Submission module. Only nominated reference letter authors can access this module.
Starting the Reference Letter Process
• Nominated reference letter authors will receive a system-generated email from the "Rgov-No-
Reply@nsf.gov" sender email with "NSF Fellowship Reference Letter Request" in the subject line.
• The email includes an Invitation Code required to access the Reference Letter Submission module in
Research.gov and lists the reference letter due date.
• A confirmation email is sent to the postdoctoral fellowship proposer after the reference letter request
email is sent to the nominated author. The proposer can track reference letter submission status in the
Research.gov Proposal Submission System.
Example System-generated Reference Letter Request Email
Instructions
Invitation Code
Version 1.0 (September 2023)
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Postdoctoral Fellowship Proposal
Reference Letter Submission Module Guide
Step
1
: Register for a new NSF account in Research.gov.
Note: Skip to Step 2 on page 4 if you already have an NSF account in Research.gov. Use the
NSF ID Lookup tool to check if you have an existing NSF account. If needed, contact the NSF Help
Desk for account verification assistance at 1-800-381-1532 (7:00 AM - 9:00 PM ET; Monday - Friday
except federal holidays) or via rgo[email protected].
Follow the steps below to create a new NSF account. There is also a three-minute Register for a New
NSF Account video tutorial and Register for a New NSF Account job aid for a detailed walk-through of
steps with associated screenshots.
• Open Research.gov.
• Click “Register” located at the top of the screen.
• Enter the requested information on the Account Registration page (one-time process)
NSF Account Registration page
NSF ID Lookup tool link
NSF account Primary Email field
Save & Preview button is enabled after
age confirmation box is checked
NSF Account Primary Email Address Tips:
• Your NSF account primary email address will be used for NSF account notifications including
password resets.
• Please make sure you have ongoing access to this email account (e.g., Gmail address).
• It is critical that you have continued access to this email account if you change organizations.
• NSF account holders can update their NSF account primary email address without NSF Help
Desk assistance after registration.
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Postdoctoral Fellowship Proposal
Reference Letter Submission Module Guide
• After previewing your account registration information, click Submit.
Preview Account Registration
screen to verify NSF account
information
Submit button is enabled after the
I’m not a robot box is checked
Use the Edit button to make
changes
• You will receive an Account Registration Confirmation on the screen.
• You will then receive two system-generated emails at your NSF account primary email address.
o One email will contain your new NSF ID for your NSF account.
o The second email will have your temporary password so you can sign in to Research.gov.
Follow instructions provided in the email to change your temporary password.
successful NSF account creation
System-generated email is sent to
the NSF account primary email
address with temporary password to
sign in to Research.gov
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Postdoctoral Fellowship Proposal
Reference Letter Submission Module Guide
Step
2
: Sign in to Research.gov and access the Reference Letter Submission module.
• Open Research.gov.
• Click Sign In located at the top of the screen to enter NSF account credentials.
Sign in with your NSF account
primary email or NSF ID and your NSF
account password
Sign In button is enabled after
credentials are entered
• You will be on the Research.gov homepage after signing in.
• Click the Manage Reference Letters (Writers) link under Fellowships.
• You will be navigated to the Reference Letter Submission module.
Manage Reference
Letters (Writers) link
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Step
3
: Enter Invitation Code to add postdoctoral fellowship proposer.
• Enter the Invitation code from your NSF Fellowship Reference Letter Request email in the
Invitation Code field on the Manage Reference Letters page. Be sure not to add extra blank spaces
at the end of the Invitation Code. The system will only validate 10 characters in the Invitation Code
field.
• Click the Add Applicant button to continue.
• Note: This process must be repeated for each postdoctoral fellowship proposer (i.e., if you are
nominated to write a reference letter for two postdoctoral fellowship proposers, you will enter the
Invitation Code from the NSF Fellowship Reference Letter Request email corresponding to each
proposer).
Version 1.0 (September 2023)
Add Applicant button is enabled when
10-character Invitation Code is entered
Example NSF Fellowship Reference Letter Request email
• A success message will display on the Manage Reference Letters page after a postdoctoral
fellowship proposer is added to the Applicants Requesting Reference Letters table.
• The Reference Letter Status (Not Started, In Progress, or Submitted to NSF) column in the
Applicants Requesting Reference Letters table will update as the status changes.
Success message indicates reference
letter nomination acceptance for the
specified proposer
Postdoctoral fellow proposer is added
to Applicants Requesting Reference
Letters table. Status is “Not Started”
after a proposer is initially added.
Postdoctoral Fellowship Proposal
Reference Letter Submission Module Guide
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Version 1.0 (September 2023)
Additional Verification Step May be Required to Add Proposer
• If the “To” email address on a system-generated Reference Letter Request email
does not match your NSF account primary email address, an additional quick
verification step is needed to add the postdoctoral fellowship proposer to the
Applicants Requesting Reference Letters table.
• If you have been nominated by more than one fellowship proposer, this process
would be repeated for each proposer when the “To” email address on the system-
generated Reference Letter Request email does not match your NSF account
primary email address.
Enter the One-Time
Password emailed to you
Step
4
: Select proposer to upload the reference letter.
• Click on the Applicant Name linked in the Applicants Requesting Reference Letters table to go
to the Reference Letter Applicant Detail page to upload the reference letter.
Fellowship Applicant name
(blue link)
Postdoctoral Fellowship Proposal
Reference Letter Submission Module Guide
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• Reference Letter Applicant Detail page includes information about the proposer, fellowship,
reference letter due date, proposer rating section, and reference letter instructions.
• Reference letter must be uploaded as a PDF.
Version 1.0 (September 2023)
Proposer and
Fellowship information
Rating Section
Reference Letter
instructions
Reference Letter Due
Date
Step
5
: Upload proposer reference letter and make a selection in the Rating section.
• Use the Browse button to select the reference letter PDF file to upload.
Clicking the
Browse button
opens the file
selection feature
Postdoctoral Fellowship Proposal
Reference Letter Submission Module Guide
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Postdoctoral Fellowship Proposal
Reference Letter Submission Module Guide
• A success message is generated after the PDF file is uploaded if no file compliance errors are
detected (e.g., attempted file upload of a file format other than PDF)
• The uploaded file linked at the bottom of the page may be:
• Viewed by clicking the file link. Please ensure the upload file is for the intended
proposer. Reference letters cannot be updated after submission to NSF.
• Deleted by selecting the trash can icon.
File upload success
message
View the uploaded
PDF
Delete the uploaded
PDF for re-upload
Step
6
: Submit reference letter and rating to NSF.
• After confirming that the correct reference letter has been uploaded, use the Submit to NSF button to
complete the submission of reference letter and rating.
• A modal will display to confirm that you are ready to submit the reference letter for the specified
proposer. No changes can be made to the reference letter after it is submitted to NSF.
Submit to
NSF button
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• A success message is generated after reference letter submission.
• The reference letter status is changed to “Submitted to NSF” for the proposer on the Applicants
Requesting Reference Letters table.
• System-generated confirmation email is sent to the reference letter author and to the postdoctoral
fellowship proposer to notify of the reference letter submission.
Reference letter
submission success
message
Reference letter
status updated to
“Submitted to NSF”
Postdoctoral Fellowship Proposal
Reference Letter Submission Module Guide
Questions?
IT system-related and technical questions may be directed to the NSF Help Desk at 1-800-381-1532
(7:00 AM - 9:00 PM ET; Monday - Friday except federal holidays) or via rg[email protected].
Signing in to Research.gov with
Organization Credentials or
Login.gov Credentials
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Postdoctoral Fellowship Proposal
Reference Letter Submission Module Guide
Using Organization Credentials to Sign in to Research.gov
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Postdoctoral Fellowship Proposal
Reference Letter Submission Module Guide
After registering for an NSF account in Research.gov, you can sign in to Research.gov with your
organization-issued credentials if your organization is an InCommon Federation participant and
integrated with NSF. Please check the Organization drop-down on the Research.gov Sign In page to
view the list of InCommon Organizations that participate/integrate with NSF.
• Only InCommon Federation participants can use their organization-issued credentials to sign in to
Research.gov.
• If you are signing in with your organization-issued credentials, you will be prompted to link your
credentials to your NSF account if they are not already linked.
• Please see the About the InCommon Integration at Research.gov page to learn more.
• If you have questions, please contact the NSF Help Desk at 1-800-381-1532 (7:00 AM – 9:00 PM
Eastern Time; Monday – Friday except federal holidays) or via [email protected].
Sign in with your Organization
credentials
Sign In button is enabled after
credentials are entered
Using Login.gov Credentials to Sign in to Research.gov
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Postdoctoral Fellowship Proposal
Reference Letter Submission Module Guide
After registering for an NSF account in Research.gov, you can sign in to Research.gov with your
Login.gov credentials.
• Login.gov is a Federal shared service platform that provides multi-factor authentication for users
to sign in to participating government agency systems.
• Accessing Research.gov through Login.gov enables reference letter authors to have a single
username and password for participating Federal systems.
• After Login.gov credentials (username and password) are entered, the Login.gov system will
require the reference letter author to provide a second factor such as a security key,
authentication application, or a one-time security code the reference letter author receives by
phone or by text to complete the authentication. For more information, please see the Login.gov
Help Center Authentication Options page.
• When signing in to Research.gov with Login.gov credentials the first time, the reference letter
author’s Login.gov account and NSF account will automatically be linked if the same primary
email is used for both accounts. If Research.gov does not detect a primary email address match
for both accounts, the reference letter author will be prompted to complete a one-time process to
link their Login.gov account to an existing NSF account.
• If you have questions, please contact the NSF Help Desk at 1-800-381-1532 (7:00 AM – 9:00 PM
Eastern Time; Monday – Friday except federal holidays) or via [email protected].
Sign in with Login.gov
credentials
enabled after
credentials are
entered
