Publication of Grant-in-Aid allocation results: Overall, 77,351 grants were awarded, with 5187 of them being awarded to women

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has announced the distribution results for FY2024 for the main research categories of Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research: Specially Promoted Research, New Academic Field Research (Research Area Proposal Type), Academic Transformation Research, Basic Research, Challenging Research, and Research by Young Researchers.

The number of new applications was 78,125, an increase of 3,562 (4.8%) as compared to the previous fiscal year, and the number of new applications granted was 22,722, an increase of 858 (3.9%), for a new grant successful application rate of 29.1%. The new successful application rate decreased by 0.2 percentage points from the previous fiscal year, and the amount allocated per proposal averaged 2,564,000 yen, a decrease of 4,000 yen. The total number of grants, including continuing grants, was 77,351. The total amount of subsidies allocated was 213.8 billion yen (164.5 billion yen for direct costs and 49.3 billion yen for indirect costs).

For young researchers, the number of new applications was 13,207, an increase of 147 (1.1%) from the previous fiscal year. The number of newly successful applications was 5,290, an increase of 16 as compared to the previous fiscal year; however, the newly successful application rate decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 40.1%. The success rate by age group was 35.7% for those under 40 years, 30.1% for those in their 40s, 25% for those in their 50s, and 23.2% for those aged 60 years or older. Considering the success rate by category for those under 40 years of age, the results were as follows: Academic Transformation A Planned Research 4.8%, Academic Transformation A Open Research 28.1%, Academic Transformation B Planned Research 16.7%, Basic Research S 16.7%, Basic Research A 26.6%, Basic Research B 29.1%, Basic Research C 29%, and Young Researchers 42.8%. This indicates that the successful application rate of young researchers is increasing.

The number of successful applications by female researchers was 5,187, or 22.8% of the total. The new application success rate is slightly higher for women, 29% of men and 29.4% of women. The institutions with the largest number of female applicants (new and continuing) are the University of Tokyo with 625 (success rate: 16.9%), Kyoto University with 486 (17.9%), Osaka University with 423 (17.7%), Tohoku University with 357 (16.7%), Kyushu University with 306 (17.1%), Nagoya University with 285 (18.1%), the University of Tsukuba with 282 (22.3%), Hokkaido University with 266 (16.7%), Juntendo University with 245 (32.5%), and Hiroshima University with 242 (22.2%) applications.