Ministry of Science and ICT to Eliminate 90% of National R&D Forms... Major Reduction in Research Administrative Burden

Up to 95 Documents Required Per Project to Be Streamlined

1,952 Out of 2,171 Forms Abolished; 65 Forms to Be Digitized

Annual Reduction of 400,000 Forms and 20,000 Hours Expected

Research Support Systems to Be Fully Integrated by 2028

The Ministry of Science and ICT will reduce the number of administrative forms that researchers are required to complete for national research and development (R&D) projects by more than 90%. The aim is to significantly streamline various supporting and reference documents that have been customarily requested in research settings, enabling researchers to focus more on research rather than administrative tasks.

On May 29, the Ministry announced that the "Innovation Plan for the National R&D Administrative System to Ease Research Administrative Burden" was reviewed and approved at the 9th Science and Technology-Related Ministers' Meeting.

The Ministry of Science and ICT will reduce the administrative forms that researchers must complete for national research and development (R&D) projects by more than 90%. This is a reference photo to help understand the article. Photo by The Asia Business Daily DB

The core of this plan is to completely overhaul the national R&D administrative forms and to integrate and link research support systems in order to reduce the administrative burden on researchers. This measure also follows up on last year's "Innovation Plan for the Research and Development Ecosystem Leading the Future with Science and Technology."

Currently, there are 58 standard forms in place for national R&D projects. However, government ministries and research management agencies have continued to require additional documents for each project, resulting in persistent administrative burdens for researchers. In fact, some projects were found to require the submission of up to 95 documents.

The Ministry of Science and ICT, together with 27 specialized agencies, conducted a comprehensive survey and identified a total of 2,171 administrative forms. Of these, 1,952 forms, which were either for reference only or were redundant, will be abolished, and 65 forms will be digitized. Moving forward, the system will operate around a total of 154 permitted forms, consisting of 67 standard forms and 87 non-standard forms.

Principle-Based Limitation on Additional Project Documents

Starting in July, a permitted-form-centered management system will apply to all national R&D projects announced via the Integrated Research Support System (IRIS), which brings together all ministries.

The system will operate mainly around essential standard forms such as the research and development plan, agreement forms, research expenditure application, as well as stage, annual, and final reports. The submission of additional documents will, in principle, be prohibited. Even when necessary due to project-specific requirements, no more than two or three non-standard forms will be allowed per project phase.

In addition, 15 researcher consent procedures, such as agreements to provide personal information, will be digitized, and 49 documents related to researcher qualifications and proof will be automatically submitted through the linkage of administrative systems.

The Ministry of Science and ICT projects that these measures will reduce the annual burden of preparing about 400,000 administrative forms and cut at least 20,000 hours spent on research administration tasks each year.

Research Support Systems to Be Unified

The restructuring of research support systems will also be promoted. From next month, the Ministry plans to operate "Research24," an integrated login service, allowing researchers to access major research support services with a single login.

Furthermore, by 2028, the Ministry will gradually integrate the four major research support systems—project management, research fund management, research information services, and others—centered on the Integrated Research Support System (IRIS). AI-based administrative support services, such as recommending evaluation committee members and regulation-interpretation chatbots, will also be introduced.

Park Inkyu, Director-General of Science and Technology Innovation, stated, "The most valuable resource for researchers is time," adding, "Reducing the time researchers spend on filling out forms and attaching supporting documents directly boosts research competitiveness." He continued, "We will continuously manage the system to prevent unnecessary forms from increasing again and create an environment where researchers can focus entirely on their research without administrative burdens."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.