Ann Med Med Res | Volume 5, Issue 1 | Research Article | Open Access
Huamei Yan and Li Zhang*
Clinical Research Unit, Tongji Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Fulltext PDFBackground: National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) is one of the most important
channels for the government to fund basic research. The investment has been increasing these
years. However, most of the projects have fund balance after conclusion and some even with high
proportion.
Methods: The study adopted the stratified sampling method; 17 supporting units were selected from
all units that got approved projects in 2019. Questionnaire survey was used to investigate the project
leaders from the chosen units who were will to participate in.
Results: A total of 1,053 valid questionnaires were collected from NSFC project leaders who were
concluded in 2017 to 2020. Compared with the approved amount of 13.2 to 230 thousand Chinese
Yuan (CNY), the 481 to 660 group was more likely to have higher proportion of fund balance.
Compared with the top 10 supporting units, others had more risks of high proportion fund balance.
In the year of project approved, compared with 2013, the later the approved period, the higher the risk
of high proportion balances. Among different departments, Mathematical Sciences, Management
Sciences and Earth Sciences were the highest top 3 of fund balance. Those who thought the funds
sufficient were more likely to have more fund balance. Overall use of fund balance by supporting
units could reduce balance.
The key words of top ten reasons for fund balance were “Uncertainty”, “Thrift”, “Not yet reimbursed”,
“Save”, “Restricted”, “Inaccurate budget”, “Other reasons”, “Duplicate funding”, “No hurry”, and
“External interference”. The key words of top ten suggestions were “Awareness”, “Accurate budget”,
“Propaganda and education”, “Avoid repeatedly applying”, “Unified platform”, “Supervision”,
“Other reasons”, “Fund management system”, “Abolish unreasonable regulations” and “Training
supporting units”.
Conclusions: By analyzing factors associated with fund balance and considering project leaders’
opinion, we identified some measures may help to reduce fund balance.
National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); Fund balance; IQR; SD; RMB
Yan H, Zhang L. Analysis of Fund Balance of Projects Funded by National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaWhich Concluded From 2017 to 2020. Ann Med Medical Res. 2022; 5: 1039. Copyright © 2022 Li Zhang. This is anopen access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original work is properly cited..