Indicators of successful submissions to the Law and Social Science Programof the National Science Foundation

This article examines the overall success of 1,428 proposals submitted to t he National Science Foundation's Law and Social Science Program between 198 6 and 1997. On average, proposals were successful 30% of the time. The rese arch examined a number of variables that might have influenced the success rate. The type of institution in which the Principal Investigator (PI) was employed and from which the proposal was submitted, the number of years sin ce the PI had earned his or her Ph.D., and membership in the Law and Societ y Association at the time the proposal was submitted were significant facto rs. Variables that were not predictive of success included membership in th e American Psychology-Law Society, the gender of the PI, and the type of in stitution from which the PI earned his or her terminal degree. Finally, per sistence is a valuable strategy; proposals resubmitted for consideration af ter having been declined were more likely to be funded.