1. General projects (including free application projects, youth science fund projects and regional science fund projects) and key projects are applied according to the Measures for the Administration of General Projects of the National Natural Science Fund and the Measures for the Administration of Key Projects of the National Natural Science Fund, which were published in February 2002. The application is submitted in a new form, and both full-text electronic documents and paper documents are submitted. The counterpart science department accepts six copies of paper documents (including one original).

2. For major research projects, according to the Implementation Plan of Major Research Projects (Pilot Projects) of the National Natural Science Foundation published in April 2000, the applicant applies according to the Project Guide of 2003 and relevant special notices and guides. The application is submitted in a new form, and both full-text electronic documents and paper documents are submitted. The designated science department shall accept paper documents.

3. The National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, the Overseas Young Scholars Cooperative Research Fund and the Hong Kong and Macao Young Scholars Cooperative Research Fund were applied in accordance with the Measures for the Implementation and Management of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, the Measures for the Management of the Overseas Young Scholars Cooperative Research Fund and the Measures for the Management of the Hong Kong and Macao Young Scholars Cooperative Research Fund promulgated in February 2002 respectively. Trial submission of full-text electronic documents and paper documents at the same time. The counterpart science department accepts six copies of paper documents (including one original).

4. The acceptance of the application of the National Natural Science Foundation of China for fund projects in 2003 started on February 15 and ended on March 3 1. On March 25th-3rd1,centralized acceptance was arranged in the office building of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (the mailing application was sent to the relevant acceptance departments of the National Natural Science Foundation of China based on the local postmark of the posting date).

5. In 2002, the National Natural Science Foundation of China newly formulated the Regulations on Project Management of the National Natural Science Foundation, revised the management measures for general projects, key projects, major projects, the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars and cooperative research funds for young scholars from overseas, Hong Kong and Macao, and issued the corresponding funding management measures. Applicants, grantees and project support units must implement new measures.

6. In 2003, there will be a new application restriction for general projects of NSFC, that is, applicants for general projects can only apply for one project during this acceptance period. The specific provisions on the application restrictions of various fund projects shall be implemented in accordance with the Measures for the Administration of Various Fund Projects.

7. In 2002, NSFC also revised the management forms such as application, project progress report and project closing report, and will use new forms, and try to submit both paper documents and full-text electronic documents. Applicants, grantees and project supporting units are requested to inquire and download relevant forms and documents from the website of the Natural Science Foundation of China (paper forms are no longer issued), print and form paper documents after input, and send them to the corresponding departments after being signed and sealed by the Natural Science Foundation of China. The corresponding electronic documents shall be submitted to the Information Center of NSFC (online by using the Islamic State system, submitted by email report @ pro.nsfc.gov.cn, or submitted by floppy disk or CD-ROM when submitting the application paper documents).

8. The supporting units of various application projects must register in advance before submitting the application. Units that have not yet registered with the Natural Science Foundation of China need to download the Unit Information Registration Form on the website of the Natural Science Foundation of China for registration. The deadline for registration is February 2003 1.