Recruitment speed depends on the time of day, your filters, and the number of eligible participants. Check out When are Prolific participants most active? to find the best time to publish your study.
A higher reward can help attract participants faster, but it's not guaranteed to speed up recruitment. It also depends on how many eligible participants are available and how many other studies they each have on their dashboards at the same time.
Most studies start recruiting participants quickly. We can't guarantee an exact timeframe, but if your study hasn't started recruiting within two hours, get in touch and we'll help.
If recruitment slows
Check how many eligible participants match your criteria. You'll see this count update as you add filters in your study setup
Look at how many participants have been active in the past week, not just the past 90 days, for a better sense of who's actually likely to see your study
Review your filters for conflicting criteria. See How to recruit eligible participants using filters and sub-conditions for help spotting logic issues
Consider broadening your filter criteria to reach more participants. Check out How do I use Prolific's filters? for more info
Contact Support using the icon at the bottom right of the page if recruitment is still slow after trying the steps above
Other things to keep in mind
Studies published at the same time can still recruit at different rates
Duplicate studies won't necessarily recruit within the same timeframe as the original
We can't currently support time-sensitive studies, so these run at the researcher's own risk. Learn more in Are there types of studies that aren't suitable for Prolific?