科研资助能否促进理工科博士生高水平论文发表?——基于科研压力的机制分析

Can Research Grants Promote High Quality Publications for PhD Students in Science and Engineering?——An Empirical Study Based on the Mechanism of Research Pressure

理工科博士生是进行创造型知识生产的储备人才,是提升一国科技竞争力的动力之源,探究如何促进理工科博士高水平论文发表具有重要的现实意义。本文利用1782位高校理工科博士生调查数据,采用倾向值匹配法得到平衡样本,探究科研资助对博士生高水平论文发表的影响,并将“科研压力”作为科研资助间接影响博士生科研发表的中介因素进行机制探索。结果表明,第一,科研资助能够直接促进理工科博士生高水平科研论文的发表。科研资助通过促进外部动机向内部动机的转化从而激励博士生高水平科研产出。第二,科研资助可通过缓解理工科博士科研压力间接促进科研产出。具体而言,其一,科研压力主要作为“阻断性”压力抑制理工科博士生的高水平科研发表。其二,科研资助作为社会支持的形式之一,能缓解博士生在高强度科研任务下的心理压力,降低不利于博士生学术产出的阻断性压力,从而促进高水平论文发表。第三,异质性分析表明,科研资助对贯通式博士科研产出的激励效果强于非贯通式博士生,同时,科研资助无法通过缓解非贯通式博士生的科研压力而影响其科研产出。应重视科研资助的信号特征,发挥科研资助激励作用;着力调控博士生压力情绪,健全高校心理关怀保障体系;考虑博士生培养模式差异,发挥科研资助影响的靶向功能。

PhD students in science and engineering are reserve talents for creative knowledge production and source of power for enhancing a country's scientific and technological competitiveness.Exploring ways to promote the publication of high-quality papers by science and engineering PhD students is of great practical significance.This article uses survey data from 1782 science and engineering PhD students at universities,applies the propensity score matching method to obtain a balanced sample in order to explore the impact of research funding on the publication of high-level papers and take research pressure as an intermediate factor that indirectly affects research output through research funding.The results show that,first,research funding can directly promote the publication of high-quality scientific research papers by science and engineering PhD students.Research funding can promote the process of converting external motivation to internal motivation,enable PhD students who have obtained research funding to publish more high-quality academic papers.Second,research funding can indirectly promote research output by alleviating the research pressure on science and engineering PhD students.Research pressure mainly acts as“blocking”pressure,inhibiting the number of high-level scientific research papers published by PhD students.As a form of social support,research funding can alleviate the psychological pressure on PhD students under high-intensity research tasks,reduce blocking pressure that is unfavorable to academic output,and thereby promote the publication of high-level papers.Third,heterogeneous tests show that research funding has a stronger incentive effect on students who are continuously funded than on non-continuously funded PhD students.Moreover,research funding cannot indirectly affect the research output of noncontinuously funded PhD students by alleviating their research pressure.Based on these findings,the following policy recommendations are proposed:focus on the signal characteristics of research funding and effectively utilize its incentive function;pay attention to regulating the emotional pressure of PhD students,improve the mental health care system of universities;consider the differences in PhD training modes and fully utilize the targeted function of funding.