Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

Outline

Committee on Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research

The review for KAKENHI is carried out by the Scientific Research Grant Committee of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), and it is based on the Research Proposal Document. The committee consists of approximately 8,000 reviewers who have been selected from each academic field.

Change of Review Section and Review Method

From FY2018 onward, call for proposals and proposal review are conducted in accordance with the new Review Section Table and by a revised Review Method explained below.

(1) Review Section

The former “List of Categories, Areas, Disciplines and Research Fields” has been abolished. Call for proposals and proposal review are conducted in accordance with the “KAKENHI Review Section Table” consisting of “Basic Sections”, “Medium-sized Sections”, and “Broad Sections”. (with the exception of some research categories such as Specially Promoted Research)

(2) Review Method

  • Proposal review for the categories Scientific Research (S/A), Scientific Research (B/C) (application section “Generative Research Fields”), and Challenging Research (Pioneering/ Exploratory) is conducted by the method of“Comprehensive Review”.
    For each proposal submitted to the categories Specially Promoted Research and Scientific Research (S), a few researchers in the relevant field of specialization are solicited for written comments, which are utilized in document reviews and panel reviews. Interview of the applicant will be conducted at the final review stage.
 
(“Comprehensive Review”)
Reviewers will conduct document reviews on all research proposals, and the same reviewer will conduct a discussion from a broad perspective on each research proposal at panel reviews.
 
  • Proposal review for the categories Scientific Research (B/C) (application section “General”) and Early Career Scientists is carried out by the method of “Two-Stage Document Review”.
(“Two-Stage Document Review”)
Reviewers will conduct document reviews in two-stage and Panel reviews will not be conducted.

Assessment Criteria for Document Review (FY2023)

Research categories Assessment Criteria
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (S)
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) (General)
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B/C) (General)
Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Pioneering/Exploratory)
Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up (FY2022)
International Leading Research (FY2023)
Fostering Joint International Research (FY2023)
International Collaborative Research (FY2023)

Notification of the Review Results

Notification of the review results is made to the applicants via their affiliated research institutions. In addition, information of the selected projects is made available to other researchers and to the general public, through posting of it on the Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKEN) database.
On the other hand, to Principal Investigators whose proposal have not been selected and who wish to request for disclosure, JSPS is planning to disclose the approximate ranking per the review section and so on via the electronic application system.