JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Documenting the grant acquisition characteristics of a highly selective group of researchers could provide glimpses into the research and faculty development of talented individuals, and the insights gained to foster such researchers will help university management strengthen their research capacity.

Objective:

This study examined the role of human connections in the success of biomedical researchers in Japanese universities.

Methods:

This study used grant data from the Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (GIA) program, the largest competitive research funding program in Japan, to collect information on projects and their implementation systems obtained throughout the subjects’ careers. Grant success was measured by the number and amounts of the awards obtained while subjects occupied the role of a principal investigator. Human connections were quantified by the number of projects in which the subjects participated as project members and classified by their relationship with the project leader. Data were matched with information on career history, publication performance, and experience of the subjects with government-funded programs, apart from GIA, and analyzed using multiple regression models.

Results:

Early-career interpersonal relationships, as measured by the h-index value of the researchers who provided subjects with their initial experience as project members, had a positive effect on grant success. The experience of contributing to prestigious research programs led by top researchers dramatically increased the cumulative amount of GIA awarded to subjects over time. Collaboration with peers increased the grant earned in situations where both the subject and project leader were professors, and the curvilinear impact of cooperation reached an inflection point of approximately 15 projects. Tracking the process of research development, we found that collaboration during the periods of 1014 years and 1519 years after completing a doctorate degree determined the size of the project that the subject would obtain. Further, relationships that remained narrowly focused resulted in limited grant success for small programs.

Conclusions:

Human networking is important for improving an individual’s ability to obtain external funding. The results emphasize the importance of having a high-h-indexed collaborator to obtain quality information early in one’s career; working with diverse, non-supervisory personnel at the mid-career stage; and engaging in synergistic collaborations upon establishing a research area in which one can take more initiatives.