国家自然科学基金 z-bio 2024-12-02 378

　　The State Council recently announced the revised Regulations on the National Natural Science Foundation of China, which will come into effect on January 1, 2025. How will the regulations promote the construction of the rule of law for science funds? How to implement the relevant provisions of the regulations and promote the development of basic research? Recently, officials from relevant departments of the National Natural Science Foundation of China accepted questions from reporters.

　　Laying the foundation of the rule of law for deepening the reform of the Science Foundation

　　Q: As the institutional cornerstone for the legalization and standardization of the management of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, how will the revised regulations promote the construction of the rule of law for science funds?

　　Answer: The revision of the regulations marks a new stage in the legal construction of China's science funds, which will further promote the effective management and use of the National Natural Science Foundation, improve the efficiency of the use of science funds, and lay a solid institutional foundation for supporting the cultivation of basic research talents and team building, promoting the prosperity of basic research, and achieving high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement.

　　On the one hand, the regulations will comprehensively guide, regulate, and safeguard the management of science funds. By clarifying work principles, improving management systems, perfecting funding systems, and strengthening the construction of scientific research integrity, new regulations will be introduced to promote more standardized, fair, and efficient management of science funds.

　　On the other hand, the regulations will lay a solid legal foundation for the deepening reform of the Science Foundation, consolidate the successful experience of the reform, overcome institutional obstacles faced by the reform, ensure the systematicity, stability, and sustainability of reform measures, and promote and guarantee the achievement of reform goals through the rule of law.

　　The National Natural Science Foundation of China will promote the deepening reform of science funding in accordance with regulations, continuously carry out the reform of talent funding system and mechanism, improve the diversified investment mechanism, optimize the classification application and evaluation mode, and other reform tasks. At the same time, in accordance with the latest regulations, we will carry out the work of establishing, reforming, and abolishing supporting systems, ensure the consistency and coordination of supporting systems, ensure the implementation of regulations, and lay the foundation for promoting the development of basic research and building a strong scientific and technological country.

　　Continuously improving the diversified investment mechanism of the Science Foundation

　　Q: How to implement the relevant requirements of the regulations on encouraging diversified investment and supporting more social forces to participate in basic research?

　　Answer: The regulations specify that the Natural Science Foundation mainly comes from central budget appropriations, encouraging local governments, enterprises, and other organizations to invest funds through joint funding, as well as encouraging social forces to donate.

　　At present, the National Natural Science Foundation of China has established a relatively mature joint fund management model, attracting 11 industry departments, 32 local governments, and 19 enterprises to invest in the joint fund. The total scale of the joint fund has exceeded 30 billion yuan; In addition, actively exploring the establishment of effective mechanisms for social and individual donations, accepting a social donation of 100 million yuan for the first time.

　　Next, we will continuously improve the diversified investment mechanism of the Science Foundation, continue to expand the scope of joint funding and the scale of joint fund support, and expand the scope of social and individual donations to provide strong financial support for conducting basic research.

　　Improving the funding system to promote the development of basic research

　　Q: How to understand and implement the regulations on expanding the scope of supporting units?

　　Answer: The revised regulations have expanded the scope of supporting units. Except for higher education institutions, scientific research institutions, and relevant public welfare organizations, other units that meet national regulations can be registered as supporting units.

　　To implement the regulations, we will relax the scope of registration for affiliated units in the management of affiliated units. With the support of national policies and regulations, more organizations with different natures and basic research capabilities will be allowed to register as affiliated units and participate in fund supported project research and management.

　　At the same time, we will strengthen the main responsibility of the funding projects and fund management of the supporting units, increase the punishment for violations by the supporting units, investigate and handle new violations such as violations of confidentiality regulations and improper interference in the evaluation work, strictly implement new measures such as reducing funds, suspending or recovering disbursed funds, and strengthen supervision and management of the supporting units.

　　Q: How to implement the regulations on supporting original innovation in basic research?

　　Answer: In order to promote original basic research work, the regulations authorize science fund management agencies to set special application and evaluation rules for major originality, interdisciplinary innovation, and other fund supported projects, filling the gaps that may exist in the conventional project selection mechanism and clearing institutional barriers for the identification and support of original innovation projects in basic research.

　　Next, we will highlight original research, continue to implement the original exploration plan project, summarize the beneficial experience accumulated from previous practices such as pre application, double-blind review, review feedback and response, further optimize the review mechanism that is conducive to original research, and strengthen support for original, non consensus, and transformative research.

　　Guarding the lifeline of technological innovation

　　Question: Research integrity is the "lifeline" of scientific and technological work. How to effectively implement the regulations on strengthening the construction of scientific research integrity system?

　　Answer: We will mainly implement the relevant requirements of the regulations from four aspects:

　　One is to implement the scientific research integrity commitment system. Urge applicants, participants, supporting units, review experts, fund management institution staff and other parties to comply with the requirements of scientific research integrity and technological ethics, sign a commitment letter on scientific research integrity in relevant work processes, clarify commitment matters and rules for handling violations of commitments.

　　The second is to implement a joint disciplinary mechanism. Before making funding decisions, conduct data comparison and verification of serious dishonest behavior, and include individuals and organizations who have seriously dishonest behavior in scientific research integrity in the database for joint punishment.

　　The third is to strengthen the handling of violations. Punish newly included types of violations such as requests for authorization and violations of publication rules, and take corresponding measures based on the severity of the violations to ensure that scientific misconduct is dealt with seriously in accordance with the law.

　　The fourth is to strengthen the responsibilities of the supporting units. Require the supporting units to establish and improve management systems related to scientific research integrity and technological ethics, fulfill the responsibility of investigating and handling behaviors that violate scientific research integrity and technological ethics, and take corresponding measures against violators based on their management authority.