The Czech Science Foundation (GAČR) Standard Grants and the publication performance of scientists: a counterfactual analysis of projects awarded in years 2005-2014

The Czech Science Foundation (GAČR) is the largest source of project financing for scientists based in the Czech Republic. In recent years, GAČR has distributed grants worth over 4 billion CZK a year. About three quarters of the total funds are allocated to Standard grants. This study is the first to econometrically estimate the impact of GAČR Standard Grants on the publication performance of the researchers the grant supports. We compare the members of Standard Grant research teams (the treatment group) to a control group of researchers who did not participate in a Standard Grant in a given period, but who otherwise resemble the supported researchers. We match the groups based on their primary fields, past publications and grants, academic titles, gender, the type of research institution they are affiliated with, and many other characteristics. Most data comes from the Information System for Research, Development, and Innovation