Abstract
This study investigates how the 21^<st> Century COE Program affected the research outcomes of university researchers. To measure this effect, I use the "Differencein-differences" estimators to the researcher's outcomes, as measured by the number of papers and the citation counts per paper. This analysis showed that this program increased the number of papers in the life sciences fields, and increased the citation counts in life sciences fields and information sciences fields. In the social sciences fields, there was no significant increased effect on the research outcomes. Comparing these estimated results with a peer review, there were no large differences in the life sciences fields, however there were differences in the information sciences fields and the social sciences fields. Since the characteristics of research vary according to the field, it is better to use not only a peer review but also quantitative analysis as a research evaluation method.
