An Investigation on the Researchers Who Received Japanese Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) with a Focus on Their Roles and Research Achievements

Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) is the largest grants for academic research in Japan, and over two hundred billion yen is allocated for KAKENHI, annually. However, little is known about the kind of researchers who are recipients of KAKENHI and their achievements. In this paper, we investigated the number of KAKENHI grant recipients who received KAKENHI projects, the tendencies of their role, and their research achievements. The results suggested that researchers in humanities and social sciences tended to receive KAKENHI in collaborative projects. Also, there was no strong correlation between the number of recipients of KAKENHI projects and their research achievements; however, in some research fields, such as chemistry, a higher correlation was observed. Furthermore, some researchers were found to have received KAKENHI many times although their research achievements were few.