How Nobel Prize nominations work, and the 50 year secrecy rule

Nobel Prizes cannot be applied for. Invited nominators propose candidates by 31 January, small committees review them with expert help, and the awarding institutions vote. The names of nominees stay secret for 50 years.

Each year thousands of members of academies, university professors, scientists, previous Nobel laureates and others are invited to submit candidates. Nominators are chosen so that as many countries and universities as possible are represented over time.¹
The deadline for nominations is midnight on 31 January of the prize year.¹
Nobel Committees of five to ten members review the candidates and consult experts, and the prize awarding institutions then take a final vote.¹
Four bodies decide the five prizes named in Nobel's will. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences decides physics and chemistry, the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet decides physiology or medicine, the Swedish Academy decides literature, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee decides peace.^3,1
Nominee names and other nomination details cannot be revealed until 50 years later. The public nomination archive therefore stops decades ago, for example at 1974 for physics and chemistry.²
Because of the secrecy rule, a claim that someone was nominated for a recent Nobel Prize cannot be confirmed by the Nobel organisations. Such claims usually come from a nominator who chose to speak, and should be described as unconfirmed.²

Sources

Nobel Prize Outreach, Nomination and selection of Nobel Prize laureates (27 October 2026)
Nobel Prize Outreach, Nomination archive (27 October 2026)
Nobel Prize Outreach, Prize announcement dates (2026)