Abstract
Financing of basic research is an important task in supporting research activities and development of dynamically advancing interdisciplinary fields of science. A significant challenge in this aspect is the correct distribution of limited finances sustainably. In this paper, we present an empirical study related to National Science Centre (NSC), which is the main government agency in Poland. NSC funds projects in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Life Sciences and Physical Sciences and Engineering. In this work, we analyse three primary funding schemes of NSC, which are called PRELUDIUM, SONATA and OPUS. Each of theses programms is asigned to another group of scientists from beginners to experts. Projects’ data concerning PRELUDIUM, SONATA and OPUS schemes are collected from NSC projects database (only completed projects) and proccessed for further investigation. Effectiveness and sustainability of projects implemented in scientific fields are analysed concerning criteria such as the total number of book publications, papers, amount of grants and IF points. The results obtained are presented regarding scientific disciplines and panels. Prevailingly, the PRELUDIUM scheme exhibits better results in the majority of criteria and panels.
Highlights
The system of financing science in Poland has changed in recent years, mainly due to the reform introduced in 2010 [1,2]
The division into the above sections enables a broad analysis thanks to three different, independent views of the problem. This way of analysis allows for a reliable assessment of sustainability in the scope of the competitions and fields in question, because we can only talk about sustainability if it is proportionate in many important aspects
The sustainability assessment algorithm for scientific projects presented in this article is easy, intuitive and applicable taking into account other criteria that will be relevant in this case
Summary
The system of financing science in Poland has changed in recent years, mainly due to the reform introduced in 2010 [1,2]. Instead of one central institution, which is involved in financing research (formerly the Ministry of Science and Higher Education), supporting the research is dealt with by two statutorily created government agencies, the National Science Centre and the National Centre for Research and Development, sharing financing basic and applied research. Creators of the Polish reform while working on regulations quite openly declared their inspiration with solutions functioning all over the world. It must be remembered that in the system of financing science there is a second executive agency, namely the National Centre for Research and Development, covering applied research. Significant areas of financing, including the National Humanities Development Program or financing of large research infrastructure, remain under the responsibility of the Ministry of Science and Education. Funds for science are allocated by the Foundation for Polish Science, as well asfar too small the economy [3]
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