When looking at the success rates of proposals submitted to the DFG, it is important to take into consideration the decision-making procedure of the programme in question.

In reference to the procedure used under the DFG’s individual grants programmes, which generally consists of a single stage, the following rates are shown: funding rate by number and funding rate by value. The funding rate by number expresses the ratio of proposals that were approved to those for which a final decision was issued. The funding rate by value relates to the volume of funds, indicating the ratio of approved funds to the total requested funding.

Under the coordinated programmes, there is a two-stage decision-making process: applicants first submit a draft proposal; based on this, an initial decision is made regarding the recommendation to submit a full proposal. If a full proposal is then submitted, a second decision then determines whether funding for the proposed consortium is to be approved or rejected. This gives rise to two success rates, one for proposed consortia and one for approved consortia: the recommendation rate for draft proposals for which decisions were issued and the establishment rate for full proposals. The annual rates are based on the decision dates for both the draft proposals and the full proposals. There is no direct correspondence between the draft proposals recommended for full proposal submission and the full proposals subsequently submitted, however; there are also individual variations in the time that passes between the recommendation of a draft proposal and the later submission of a full proposal. For this reason, it is not possible to compare the two success rates directly within a single reporting year.