How to Prepare an R&D Project?

How to Prepare an R&D Project?

​​We have listed below some topics and related documents that we think will support and guide your R&D project preparation processes.​

  1. ​​1Referance Guides

At the meeting of the Eleventh Supreme Council of Science and Technology held on 10 March 2005 to collect R&D statistics in all public institutions and organizations and to determine the issues within the scope of R&D and R&D support, it was decided to use the Frascati, Oslo and Canberra Guides as a reference, and TÜBİTAK was assigned to disseminate the guidelines.​

In this context, we present for your information the OECD guides covering R&D (Frascati Guide), Innovation (Oslo Guide) and Human Resources (Canberra Guide) in the links below:​

  1. 2What are the qualifications of R&D?

According to the Frascati Guide (OECD, 2015), R&D is creative work carried out on a systematic basis to increase the knowledge of people, culture and society and to use this knowledge to design new applications.

Projects that qualify as R&D can be distinguished according to the following criteria:

  • New findings should be targeted (Novel)
  • It should be based on original concepts and hypotheses (Creative)
  • There must be uncertainty about the final results (Uncertain)
  • Must be systematically planned and budgeted (Systematic)
  • Results must be transferable and/or reproducible (Transferability and or Reproducibility)
  1. 3Project topic examples that do not have R&D q​ualifications​​
It is critical to understand these criteria, as the first reason for rejection of TÜBİTAK ARDEB project applications is that the projects do not have R&D qualifications.​

Examples of work that do not qualify as R&D are listed below.​

  • Studies only for data collection and/or due diligence
  • Work on creating a dictionary/encyclopedia/inventory, catalog/database
  • Studies on translation/transcription/edition criticism/bibliography/compilation/archiving
  • Studies for excavation/restoration/restitution/conservation/surface research
  • Studies on providing routine training/training programs/preparing materials
  • Studies on routine software development
  • Studies on promotion, dissemination, awareness raising and social responsibility activities
  • Symposium/conference/workshop/seminar etc. work on organizing events
  • Studies on market research/routine index creation
  • Studies aimed at repeating previously conducted research in other places or with other subject groups
  • Theory, methodology, topic, scope, research questions, hypotheses, etc. Studies aimed at conducting similar research to previous studies without making any qualitative changes on the issues.​
  1. ​​4Research Proposal​
The research proposal, which provides an outline and overview of the research planned to be conducted, constitutes the beginning of the research project. Below, we share an example research format and the study of Frank Pajares, who is prominent with his studies on academic success from Emory University, explaining the elements of scientific research. Please click.