Knowledge Creation Process in Science : Basic findings from a large‐scale survey of researchers in Japan

Abstract

This paper reports the initial findings from a large scale survey of Japanese researchers on the knowledge creation process in science.The survey was jointly conducted by the Institute of Innovation Research of Hitotsubashi University and the National Institute of Science and Technology Policy 1 .It collected 2,100 responses on research projects, one third of the sample are from highly cited papers (top 1% in the world, H papers hereafter) in each science field by year and the rest of are from the other randomly selected papers (N papers hereafter).We call the research projects that yielded H (N) papers by H (N) projects.The survey covered all scientific fields, including social sciences, and characterized the motivations of the research projects, the knowledge sources which inspired the projects, uncertainty in the knowledge creation process, research competition, composition of the research team, sources of research money, and the research outputs, including the papers, the patents, the collaborative research projects. 9.Research projects generate not only research papers, but also outputs useful for industrial innovation, including patent applications, licensing/assignment, collaborative research, startups and standard.This is more so for H projects.For an example, more than 40% (23%) of the H projects (N projects) involved at least one patent application.3 % (2%) of the H projects (N projects) resulted in startups.5% (3%) of H (N) projects led to standards.10.A majority of licensing and assignment (70 to 80%) were associated with the provision of know-how.11.Educational outputs of the research projects are also important.74% (65%) of H projects produce doctoral degrees.The research projects also often produced materials and the other research tools.The paper also discusses the implications of these research findings on research on research and on science policy.

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