Review Process
Proposals submitted to the GMAC® MERInstitute go through a rigorous review process that relies extensively upon peer review by a faculty committee. The goal of the external review is to bring solid scholarly advice to bear on funding decisions. The GMAC MERInstitute receives many more well-conceived and worthwhile project proposals than it can fund. Therefore, it is frequently necessary to forgo opportunities to support high-quality projects in the research programs or in the fellowship competitions even though they are well within the GMAC MERInstitute's area of interest. The GMAC MERInstitute reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to accept or reject any proposal.
Investigator(s) may be asked to respond to committee requests for specification and/or clarification. Response to such requests should be submitted electronically to Rachel Edgington at research@gmac.com within 10 business days.
If the proposal is accepted, meetings, site visits, grant negotiations, administrative and legal review, and presentation of the grant for approval are generally completed within 60 business days.
If the proposal is not accepted, the investigator will receive written notification within 60 business days.
Funding FAQ
Indirect Cost and Overhead Policy
For research grant proposals requesting $75,000 or less, the GMAC MERInstitute will pay indirect costs equaling up to 15% of the direct costs of the proposed project and 25% if over $75,000. Necessary administrative costs can be built into the direct costs of the proposal, but the GMAC MERInstitute will generally not accept institutional infrastructure costs such as office rent, grants and contracts office expenses, institutional administrative expenses, accounting, and legal services, etc., as part of the direct costs.
As a matter of policy, the GMAC MERInstitute is unable to support requests for capital funds, operating or on-going program expenses, and direct support for teacher or staff pre-service or in-service training, funds for developing tests, curricula, or programs, or funds for conducting program evaluation. The GMAC MERInstitute will review each budget individually for the appropriateness of the direct costs.
Multi-Year Projects
Multi-year projects can be funded through the Grant Program. Specify details and yearly costs in the budget section of the proposal.
Payment Schedule
Grant Program: Seventy-five percent of the award is paid monthly to the principal investigator in the time period specified in the proposal. Twenty-five percent of the award is paid in full to the principal investigator upon completion of manuscript suitable for publishing. The investigator can request a different payment schedule with justification.
Fellowship Program: Seventy-five percent of the award is paid according to fellows' request (monthly, lump sum, etc.) Twenty-five percent of the award is paid upon completion of a short paper for the GMAC Research Report Series or presentation at a GMAC conference.
Agreement FAQ
Intellectual Property Rights Policy
The Agreement between the Council and the Investigator creates a form of independent contractor relationship; the Council does not intend to supervise or manage research conducted by the investigator. Investigators conduct their research and prepare the final manuscript entirely on their own, subject only to the Council's right to review the final manuscript, suggest changes, and direct whether an "attribution" is appropriate to use when publishing the manuscript. See below under "Manuscript Review" for more information.
Author(s) own their work product, subject to the license they grant the Council to that work product. Our agreement with the author(s) grants us a license to copy and distribute the published article and derivative works. Thus, GMAC will need to view the third party's license agreement prior to publication.
The agreement protects a grantee's rights to the works generated with GMAC MERInstitute funds, but also guarantees the GMAC MERInstitute the right to disseminate works that, within a reasonable time, have not been published in other venues. It also guarantees the GMAC MERInstitute the right to publish excerpts of up to 15% of a particular work that results from its grants.
The GMAC MERInstitute seeks both to support and disseminate exemplary research about the graduate management education industry. To enhance the GMAC MERInstitute's capacity to disseminate the research it supports, we formed the Research Report Series, which posts white papers of ongoing GMAC research and will include article abstracts, book chapters, and report summaries generated internally and through the GMAC MERInstitute. We hope that the website will be a valuable research tool for all those interested in graduate management education.
Other FAQ
Progress Report
Investigators are required to submit a progress report midway through their project (as specified in the agreement). The progress report should include an update on progress made and preliminary findings.
Manuscript Review
The Council is entitled to at least 15 business days to review final manuscripts and make suggested changes prior to submission to a third-party publisher.
As part of our agreement, author(s) are required to include in any Article/Finding the following Attribution. "The author(s) has relied upon data supplied by the Graduate Management Admission Council® ("GMAC") to conduct the independent research that forms the basis for the findings and conclusions stated by the author(s) in this article. These findings and conclusions are the opinion of the author(s) only, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of GMAC."
If the author(s) fail to give the Council the opportunity to review and suggest changes, or fail to incorporate all of Council's substantive comments, the Council reserves the right to require the author(s) to purge all references to GMAC in the Article or Findings and constitute grounds for an immediate, automatic revocation of all licenses granted.
Change of Hypothesis
If the proposal is accepted, the investigator understands that he or she may not alter or modify the primary hypothesis or objective without obtaining written approval from the GMAC MERInstitute.
Change of Principal Investigator(s)
If a change of principal investigator(s) occurs while a grant is active, the GMAC MERInstitute requires written notification of the party or parties accepting responsibility for the grant. A change of principal investigator(s) cannot occur after submission of proposal, prior to proposal evaluation.
Change of Investigator Information
The GMAC MERInstitute asks to be notified promptly of any changes in contact information or institutional affiliation of the grant investigator(s).
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