国自然 z-bio 2025-07-24 4514

　　The 2025 National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Nature) review has ended, and the overall funding rate is expected to hit a low, facing fierce competition and funding difficulties. In 2024, the overall funding rate of national nature will be about 13%, of which the funding rate of project is only 11.66%, and the youth projects will be 15.54%, which is already at a low level. The funding rate for the general project in 2025 is expected to fall to 11.19% or even lower, hitting a new low in recent years.

　　Funding rate may hit a record low

　　The number of applications continues to rise

　　In December 2023, the National Natural Science Foundation of China issued the 2024 National Natural Science Foundation of China reform measures, announcing a series of reform measures such as "canceling the application for two and one suspension", "canceling the change restrictions on relying on units", and "relaxing the age of women", further relaxing the application restrictions of national nature. Therefore, the number of applications for projects in the National Natural Science Foundation of China's centralized acceptance period in 2024 showed an explosive growth, with a total of 384,564 items, a year-on-year growth rate of 26.36%. This increase is in sharp contrast to the growth rate of only 3.7% in 2023.

　　During the 2025 project application period, a total of 433,426 applications for various types of projects were received, and 432,429 were accepted after the preliminary review, an increase of 12.71% from 384,564 in 2024 (slight increase after the review), a huge increase. There are only 997 applications for projects that are not accepted, which is less than 1,000 for the first time in the past five years, accounting for only 0.23%, a sharp drop of 30.8% from 2024, the lowest in history.

　　The funding rate continues to decline

　　From the perspective of funding rate, although it has dropped slightly from 2021 to 2023, it has always remained at a level of around 16%; but it has dropped sharply to 13% in 2024, setting a new low in recent years.

　　The total budget for the 2025 Natural Science Foundation of China project is 39.458 billion yuan, an increase of 3.143 billion yuan from the number of executions in 2024, an increase of 8.65%. The increase of 8.65% of funds is significantly lower than the increase of 12.71% of the total application volume, and the funding rate in the new year may hit a record low~

　　Youth and the most influential projects

　　The total increase in research funds cannot match the increase in fund applications, and the funding rate continues to decline. The competitive pressure brought by the youth funds and general projects on which scientific researchers rely on will be further intensified.

　　Preface projects: the funding rate is 17% in 2023 and plummeted to 11.7% in 2024. Assuming that the proportion of application volume remains at about 46.28% in 2024, the application volume will reach about 200,590. It is estimated that the number of funds in the near future may be around 20,760 in 2025, with a funding rate of about 10.34%.

　　Youth Fund: The funding rate in 2023 is 17%, and it fell to 15.5% in 2024. If the proportion of applications with 38.87% is maintained (about 168,473), calculated based on the funding standard of 300,000 yuan per item, it is estimated that the number of funding projects in 2025 is about 23,226. This means that the funding rate may further decline to 13.79%, showing a continued downward trend compared with previous years.

　　In recent years, the competition trend of the National Natural Science Foundation has become increasingly fierce. The review standards have gradually shifted from focusing on research hotspots and the number of papers in the early stage to paying more attention to the quality of scientific research results, the scientific nature of project design, and the applicant's overall scientific research ability.

　　Scientists must base themselves on the frontier of the discipline, deepen basic research, and continuously improve academic originality and research quality; at the same time, they need to accurately condense key scientific issues, carefully design and demonstrate research plans, and highlight the innovative value and application potential of the project; and strengthen academic exchanges and cooperation, and continuously optimize the rigor and clarity of the presentation of application materials. Only by closely combining research strength, innovative thinking and application skills can we effectively improve the competitiveness and success rate of project approval in this high-intensity competition.