Utilization of Research Performance Analysis on Installing and Renewal of Advanced Research Instruments

Abstract

Research instruments used in cutting-edge research (hereafter: advanced research instruments) have contributed to the development of science and technology. Though most such advanced research instruments are expensive, they have usually been purchased at the discretion of individual researchers.

To date, MEXT has promoted the sharing of research instruments. However, declining R&D budgets have produced a downward spiral within which a decline in the number of new instruments installed, along with the commensurate aging and failure of existing instruments, has led to a fall in the morale of technical staff in research facilities. Therefore, the management of universities and research institutes needs to prioritize this issue and consider ways to get out of this precarious, worsening, and debilitating situation.

This study it has found that the text mining of Research Fronts (provided by Clarivate Analytics) identified advanced research instruments. In addition, the average number of highly cited papers referencing advanced research instruments in Research Fronts is higher than those of papers searched through the Web of Science. Thus, it is suggested that combining research performance analysis with data on research infrastructure would be effective.