For a full description of the ALMA scheduling process, see the ALMA Proposers Guide in the Documents and Tools Section of the ALMA Science Portal.

Proposals will be assessed on the overall scientific merit of the proposed investigation and its potential contribution to the advancement of scientific knowledge.

The process for the scheduling of all projects is explained in the ALMA Proposers Guide.  If your project was not completed and transferred into the next Cycle, the Proposer's guide states that the projects’ assigned priority group are in the order: Previous Cycle Grade A, Current Cycle Grade A, Current Cycle Grade B, Current Cycle Grade C.  Apart from time-­constrained observations (including Solar and mm-­VLBI observations), there are other aspects of a proposed observation that will affect when a program may be scheduled. In rough order of priority, those aspects are:     

• weather conditions

• requested angular resolution and Largest Angular Structure (LAS)

• the projects’ assigned priority group in the order: Previous Cycle Grade A, Current Cycle Grade A, Current Cycle Grade B, Current Cycle Grade C

• VLBI observations will be executed in a "campaign mode", during specific date schedule when the 12-m array is in one of the most compact 12-m array configurations. During these campaigns, these observations will have priority

• In the ACA observing queue, ACA observations that complement 12-m array observations will have priority over ACA stand-alone observations

• project and OUS completion

• Executive balance

All things being equal, the project with the highest scientific rank will be observed.