Exploring Characteristics of Academic Crowdfunding in Japan

Academic crowdfunding, one of the concepts of open science, is a funding system in which a research candidate proposes a project online and asks for financial support from other citizens. Recently, researchers of universities and research institutions have begun using academic crowdfunding in addition to public research funding. However, there are few researches on academic crowdfunding in Japan. This study examined the characteristics of funded projects on four Japanese platforms that facilitate academic crowdfunding (Readyfor, CAMPFIRE, academist, and OTSUCLE). The results showed a significant correlation between the number of backers and amount raised, but not between the number of backers and achievement rate. The number of projects was large in biology, art and design, and physics. Such information will be useful not only for future research candidates but also for universities and research institutions to design their financial supports for researchers.