This is the Thermo Fisher Junior Innovators Challenge (JIC) Frequently Asked Questions page, where you will find answers to the most common questions nominees have when completing the application. We will continue to update this page as we receive questions. Can't find your answer here? Email us at jic@societyforscience.org. 

After I entered my Fair Password in the "Confirm Fair Password" task, a new task appeared that said my password was invalid. What do I do now?

We will need to manually adjust a setting on your account to give you access to the full application. Please email jic@societyforscience.org and tell us your name, city, state and Fair Password (or, if you don't know your Fair Password, tell us the name of the science fair that nominated you). Then, we will approve the settings internally so you have full access to the application questions. Even if you try to adjust the fair password yourself, our permission is required to adjust the settings. We appreciate your patience, and we will resolve this issue for you as quickly as possible.  We will let you know once your account has been adjusted.

I was nominated by more than one fair. What should I do?

Choose one fair for your fair password. You are asked in Part I whether or not you have been nominated by other fairs—enter the second fair’s information here. Our judges do not see this data, but it is helpful for our tracking purposes and to give credit to both fairs.

May I submit a different project than the one I did at my fair this spring?

No. This work was also been vetted and approved by your fair for safety issues.

Should my teammates(s) and I submit separate applications?

Yes, this is required. Each team member must answer the questions individually.

Do I need to complete my application in one sitting?

No, you may work on your application in pieces and save your work until you are ready to submit. We do recommend saving your essays in a Word document for safekeeping in case you experience problems with your internet provider.

If you try to save a page that has required fields but you have not yet completed the required fields, you will receive a message warning you about the required fields. You will still be able to save the page. You will not, however, be able to submit the page or Task without completing the required fields. When a Task is fully submitted, you will see a green checkmark next to the task number. 

What do I do if my school is not listed in Part 2?

In Part 2 of the application, if you cannot find your school in the dropdown menu, please email us at jic@societyforscience.org with the name of your school, its address, city, state and zip code. We will add it to our database as soon as we can and will email you once that has been done. In the meantime, you should continue working on other sections of the application.

“Visual Aid”: What should I include?

• Be sure to read the Visual Aid guidelines in the Official Rules 2026!
• You may only upload a 2-page pdf document that is 8.5x11. If you upload more than two pages, our evaluators and judges will not see it. Please keep to two pages maximum.
• You should include data tables, graphs, charts, photos that are relevant, etc.—include things that will help our judges understand how you came to your conclusions. You may include captions to facilitate this understanding, but do not use this as an opportunity to write additional essays.  Think of this as an opportunity for a judge to see your project since they cannot see it in person. Prioritize the most important graphs, charts, etc. if you have too many to fit on two pages.
• Make sure your Visual Aid is readable at 100% zoom!
• Be sure to cite all images, tables, charts, etc. in your visual aid! Follow the guidelines in the Official Rules 2026. You can find examples of citations in the ISEF Citation Guide. 

Parent/Guardian Permission Form: Why can’t I edit fields in the PDF?

We require that you upload a signed version of the parent/guardian permission form. You will need to complete this form by hand, scan or photograph the form and upload it into the application.

Science Fair Forms: What do I really need?

The science fair paperwork section will walk you through what forms/paperwork you should upload. If you worked with humans, vertebrate animals, hazardous materials or pathogens, you will be asked for your paperwork. If you did not work with any of the above but completed paperwork for your fair, you will be able to upload it in this section.  

• If you need forms but your fair or teacher has them and you cannot access them, you may instead upload a letter that states that you did have approval to do the project and tells us which fair/school gave you this approval, what types of forms you filled out, and where they are now. 
• You do not necessarily need to complete ISEF forms — many fairs have their middle school projects complete them, but some schools and fairs have their own versions.  These are fine to upload instead.
• You do NOT need to send us your research paper or abstract in this section under any circumstances. This section is only reviewed by our staff, not judges.

I’m having trouble uploading documents. I don’t have my visual aid, paperwork, and/or parent permission slip in PDF format. How do I convert them?

First, make sure you are uploading PDFs—our system will not accept jpegs, word documents or other file types. You will need to convert other file types before you can upload them to our system. Here are a few ways to convert your file:

• For paper documents:
  • You can use an app such as CamScanner. On this application, you can take a photo of your document, select ‘share as PDF’, then email it to yourself to upload it into the application.
  • You can also take a photo of your document, then upload into an online PDF converter, such as the Free PDF Converter from Adobe.
  • On an iPhone, you can convert photos to PDF within the Photos app. Take a photo of your document, then select the ‘share’ icon in the bottom left corner of the screen. Select ‘print’, then do a ‘zoom-in’ motion on the photo. This will convert the photo to PDF. You can then save the PDF to files or email it to yourself.
• For digital documents:
  • On applications like Powerpoint or Google Slides, click ‘File’ in the top right of the screen. Then look for the option to ‘download’ or ‘export’ and select ‘PDF’ as your desired format.
  • On applications like Canva, you may also see the option to ‘share’ a document, and then can select ‘PDF’ as the format you wish to share the document in.

After converting your file and uploading it into the application, we recommend trying to download it from the application to double check that it looks right and can be opened.

Still having trouble? Feel free to email us the file you are trying to convert and upload and we are happy to take a look.

I think I completed all required tasks, but the system says I have only completed a few. What do I need to do?

To complete a task, you need to click the green "mark to complete" in the bottom right corner within the task. It is very likely that you have completed all the required questions, but have not hit the green button. Once you do so, you will see a green check mark by the task number, which means it's done!

When can I submit my application?

You will see the option to submit your application after you have completed the required tasks. When tasks are fully complete (and you have clicked the green "mark complete" button in each task), you will see a green check mark next to the task. 

Can I go back and make changes to a section I have already completed?

Yes! To make changes to a section, click on that section. Next to the title of the section click the three horizontal dots and select “edit.” 

I already submitted my application but I would like to make a change. What should I do?

No problem — even if you have already submitted, you may log back into your application and make as many changes as you would like before the deadline. You do not need to hit submit again — as long as you save the section, your changes will apply. You can double-check that the answers saved by downloading a fresh PDF in the right-hand corner of your main screen.

I thought I submitted my application, but I received a reminder email saying I had not.  Why?

You might have more than one application opened. This often happens by accident, you probably do not even realize it. Email us back and we can double-check on this for you and even delete the second incomplete account with your permission. Occasionally there is a short time lapse between the time we pull data to email students and when the message actually sends—you could have submitted in this small window. Bottom line—if you received confirmation from us that your application was submitted and received, it was!