GRFP Reference Letter Submission Guide
All Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) reference letters are submitted in the Reference
Letter Submission module in Research.gov. All reference letters must be submitted to NSF by
the annual deadline in late October.
Starting the Reference Letter Process
• Nominated GRFP reference letter writers 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.
• A confirmation email is sent to the GRFP Applicant after the reference letter request email is sent to
the nominated writer. The GRFP Applicant can track reference letter submission status in the GRFP
module.
Example System-generated GRFP Reference Letter Request Email
Instructions
Invitation Code
Step
1
: Register for a new NSF account in Research.gov.
Note: Skip to Step 2 on page 3 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
rgov@nsf.gov.
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)
Version 1.0 (July 2023)
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