Projects status analysis of occupational respiratory diseases funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China from 1987 to 2018 / 中国职业医学

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the funding status of the National Natural Science Fund(NNSF) in the field of occupational respiratory disease(ORD) research in China. METHODS: Through the NNSF Committee Science Foundation sharing service network database, we collected the information of funded projects in the field of ORD research in China from 1987 to 2018, and analyzed the funding expenditure, funding categories, supporting units and research contents. RESULTS: A total of 106 NNSF funded projects were obtained in the research field of ORD in China in the period 1987-2018, and the total amount of funding was 37.945 million yuan. The number of funded projects, the average and the total amounts of fundings showed an increasing trend year by year(all P<0.05). The main types of funded projects were general projects and Youth Science Foundation projects(97.2%). The funded projects and funds were mainly concentrated in colleges and universities, accounting for 79.2% and 83.4% respectively. Beijing(29 items, 27.4%), Hebei(13 items, 12.3%) and Jiangsu(11 items, 10.4%) were the top three provinces and municipalities in the number of funded projects. Silicosis, pulmonary fibrosis, quartz, alveolar macrophages and acute lung injury were the top five keywords of funded project items, and the research types mainly focused on the mechanism of diseases. CONCLUSION: The NNSF funding is imbalanced in the types of funding, supporting units, and regional distribution on ORD research field in China. It is suggested that the funding structure of NNSF should be optimized, interdisciplinary research should be encouraged and expanded, and cooperation among different institutions and regions should be promoted.