College Board

First, determine if your research project meets the eligibility guidelines. Then register for the Competition. You'll need to submit a Research Report about your project, as well as a few additional forms:

• Research Report
• Abstract
• Supplemental Form
• Mentor Form
• Confirmation Page

Students who are selected as regional and national finalists also need to prepare for the:

• Poster presentation
• Oral presentation
• Question-and-answer session

Project Eligibility

Before you begin, determine that your project is eligible for the Competition.

• Each student can submit only one research project, either as an individual competitor or as a member of a team.
• You may submit a project that has been or will be submitted to other science Competitions.
• You may submit a research paper that has been or will be published, as long as you retain the rights.
• To resubmit a project that already has been submitted to the Siemens Competition in the past, you must be able to demonstrate how the research has been advanced. This information is required during registration.
• Projects that violate laws or school regulations--or place any student, judge, or observer in danger--are not eligible.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a fundamental value of the Siemens Competition and scientific research. We expect the research report, presentation slides, and poster to be your own work. If you are using text or images from someone else, you are expected to ensure that all facts, techniques, images, and information (including the Internet) are properly cited. It is not sufficient to simply modify the words of an original source. If you have used the essential idea, you must properly cite the source.

Violations of academic integrity will result in disqualification. The Competition uses specific procedures, as part of the judging process, to detect plagiarized materials. If a Research Report is found to have improper citations or if citations are omitted, intentionally or unintentionally, the College Board and the Siemens Foundation will disqualify you from the competition and notify your high school about the disqualification.

Project Topics

Research Reports may be submitted on projects in the fields of mathematics, engineering, biological, and physical sciences. They may also involve combinations of disciplines such as:

Social and behavioral science research projects are not eligible. Social science is considered to be the study of society or social behavior. Behavioral science is considered any project that involves the study of the actions and reactions of humans and animals through observation and experimental methods.

Neuroscience projects—based on the underlying sciences of biology, chemistry, and physics-are allowed.

Using Vertebrate Materials

For the purpose of this Competition, live vertebrates include humans, mammalian embryo or fetus, bird eggs within three days (72 hours) of hatching, and all other vertebrates at hatching or birth.

Section V on the Mentor Form, Vertebrate Certification, must be completed by the advisor, mentor, or supervising scientist.

Projects that involve in any way, including testing and questioning, the use of live human subjects or other live vertebrates or the fluids, cells, tissues, or organs from vertebrates are accepted only under the following conditions:

1. The research project is conducted in a registered institution or laboratory where human or animal experimentation is authorized. The mentor(s) is required to provide the following information on the certification form:

• Name of the research institution
• Title of the study
• Institution Review Board (IRB) approval number and approval date in the case of human subjects; a high school IRB is not permitted
• Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) approval number and approval date in the case of other vertebrate animals

2. The vertebrate animal cannot be euthanized for the purpose of the student's research project. Fluids, cells, tissues, and organs may be used only if the animal was euthanized for another purpose.
3. Students may work only with non-living material (e.g. fluids, tissues, or organs) supplied by the supervising scientist.

Research projects conducted outside of the United States must follow the same guidelines listed above when using live human subjects or other live vertebrates or the fluids, cells, tissues, or organs from vertebrates in accordance with the following:

• The research must be done in an institution that is affiliated with a U.S. registered institution or laboratory and provide an IRB or IACUC approval number; or
• The country where the research is done must have, at a minimum, guidelines equivalent to the United States. In place of an IRB or IACUC approval number, the student must provide a copy of the official certification used in that country and specifically for that research project. If the country or affiliate institution has a federal-wide assurance number, please provide it. The documentation must be in English.

It is the student's responsibility to provide proper documentation of one of the above. If neither can be met, the project is not eligible.

Sharing Your Results

Research projects and findings are the property of the students. However, the Research Reports submitted to the Competition are not returned.

Students selected as Regional or National Finalists grant the Siemens Foundation nonexclusive, nonroyalty bearing worldwide rights to showcase the project design, results, and findings, as well as the student(s) themselves who worked on the project.