Abstract: Abstract: Several typical reviewing mechanisms for the assessment of high-risk exploratory research projects in famous foreign science funding agencies are compared and analyzed. On this basis, combined with the actual conditions of National Nature Science Foundation of China, an interactive heuristic reviewing mechanism is proposed. This mechanism relies on a special forum，by means of instant argument and confrontation between applicants and reviewers, the projects that are worth supporting are identified. This interactive heuristic reviewing mechanism overcomes the shortcoming of traditional peer review mechanism when it is used to identify exploratory pioneering projects often conservativeness falls vacant. The proposed mechanism could become a complementary and extension mechanism for peer review.

Key words: high-risk exploratory research project, peer review, science foundation, reviewing mechanism