Published October 28, 2026.
A Regeneron ISEF project is one question you measured yourself. Society for Science says demonstrations, literature reviews, library research, informational projects, and explanation models are not appropriate. You may enter one project. The research may run no more than 12 continuous months, beginning no earlier than January 2026 and ending in May 2027. The abstract is 250 words, and it has to describe your work. If the idea is a model of a volcano, a poster that explains photosynthesis, or a book report with a hypothesis stapled on, it is the wrong idea for this fair.
You also have to be chosen by an ISEF-affiliated fair. ISEF does not take walk-ups. The fair’s own deadline is the date that matters, and that fair may add rules on top of these.
The constraints that pick the idea
| Rule | What it means for the idea |
|---|---|
| Who may enter | Grades 9–12, and not yet 20 on or before May 1 preceding the fair |
| How many projects | One. Boards and abstracts in English. |
| How long | Up to 12 continuous months, no earlier than January 2026, through May 2027 |
| Teams | No more than three people, all eligible |
| Categories | 22. The project competes in one of them. |
| Abstract | 250 words, current year only, student’s work |
Pick a comparison you can actually run: two conditions, a count or a measurement, and enough trials that a difference would mean something. A continuation is allowed when you test a new variable or a new line of the work. Repeating last year’s method on a bigger sample is the example Society for Science gives of a continuation that does not count. The board and the abstract show this year’s data. You may say “year two” in the title. You may not fill the board with last year’s raw numbers.
If people, vertebrate animals, or potentially hazardous biological agents are involved, the review has to happen before you start. A Qualified Scientist is required for many of those studies. Doing the experiment first and asking later is how a project gets stopped. Work done in a university lab also needs the regulated-research form, and the plan has to say which part you did and which part the mentor did. A slice of a professor’s study is allowed. Presenting the professor’s study as yours is not.
Generative AI can be a resource if you cite it. It cannot write the research plan, the abstract, the poster, or the citations. Society for Science says those tools invent references. The words on the board have to be the student’s.
I would rather see a small measurement the student can explain than a dramatic topic they cannot defend. “Which dish soap breaks a surface film faster” can be a real project. “Cancer” cannot, unless the student has an approved plan, a mentor, and data that are theirs. If you need a lab and a supervisor, start with a person, not a topic list. Our note on emailing a lab is the practical version, and Clark Scholars is a summer that already includes the mentor.
Questions families ask
What kind of science fair project does ISEF actually want?
A project the student measured. Society for Science says demonstrations, literature reviews, library research, informational projects, and explanation models are not appropriate for Regeneron ISEF.
How long can the research be?
One project, and no more than 12 continuous months. For this rule set, that window begins no earlier than January 2026 and ends in May 2027. Work from before January 2026 is not part of the project they judge.
How long is the ISEF abstract?
250 words at most, one page, and only the current year’s work. It describes what the student did, not what the mentor did. Acknowledgments do not go in the abstract.
Can a team enter ISEF?
Yes, with no more than three members. Everyone on the team has to meet the same grade and age rules, and the team that reaches ISEF has to be the team that competed at the affiliated fair.
Can I use AI on an ISEF project?
As a tool, if you cite it. You may not use generative AI to write the research plan, the abstract, the poster, or the citations. The words on the board have to be yours.
Sources
- Society for Science, Regeneron ISEF rules for all projects, for eligibility, the research window, teams, what is not a project, the forms, and the 250-word abstract.
- Society for Science, how to write an ISEF abstract, for the 250-word limit, current-year-only rule, and the ban on acknowledgments in the abstract.