Submission statuses explained

Read more about study submission statuses and what they mean here

On your Submissions page, you'll see we use a few different statuses to tell you what's currently happening with your submission. This article explains the status Timed-Out.

Every study has a time limit. If you go over this time limit you won't be able to submit the study.

Why was my study Timed-Out?

You can see the maximum time allowed to take a study by hovering over the 'estimated time of completion' on the study page.

If you go over this amount of time, you'll time-out and your submission will be displayed as 'timed-out'. You usually won't be paid for 'timed-out' submissions.

We have a time-out feature that's designed to give all participants plenty of time to complete a study successfully, whilst timing out those who become inactive. This feature ensures that studies are completed in a reasonable amount of time.

We want you to have an accurate idea of how long a study will take. So, you can see two key figures before you start a study: Estimated Completion Time and Maximum Time.

Estimated Completion Time

Estimated Completion Time is the approximate time it should take you to complete the study, as specified by the researcher.

Maximum Time

Maximum Time for each study is set by Prolific, based on the Estimated Completion Time. This is the maximum amount of time you have to complete the study. If you exceed this, you will be timed out.

Disputing timed-out submissions

If you believe the maximum time allowed wasn't enough to properly complete the study, please message our support team using the contact button below:

Need further help?
Click here to contact us