Returns on Grants Benchmark of Personal R and D Output

In the citation for Barbara McClintock's Nobel Prize, Professor Ringertz of Karolinska Institute said the following to Dr. McClintock, "your work is encouraging because it shows that great discoveries can still be made with simple tools." I am a proponent of good stewardship of R&D grants as a large part of it are public funds. As an academic, I will want my students to leave me with a strong concept that R&D dollars is a privilege. However, there is no real measure and benchmark of R&D output. Hence, I am adapting the concept of "Returns on Equity" and "Returns on Investment" to measure my own efficiency in using grants, naming it "Returns on Grants" or ROG.

Grants comprises of the total amount of money I am given for research and development activities. ROG will then be the quotient of grants less allowable deductions (accessible grant) and the number of manuscripts produced.

The allowable deductions are:

• Manpower. Each peer-reviewed manuscript can only be used for 1 deduction of $25000 as manpower cost provided that the peer-reviewed manuscript is accepted within 2 years of the funding period.
• Equipment. 90% of equipment shared by different R&D groups (common equipment) and 80% of other equipment can be deducted.
• Patents. 30% of cost, up to 5000, incurred in the filing process of each patent may be deducted. The rest should be offset by revenue derived from the patent.
• Publication cost. Any cost related to publications, such as publication / article processing fees, can be deducted.
• Bringing forward of unused deductions. 50% of unused deductions can be brought forward to the following years. This is in concordance to how company's trade losses / unutilized deductions can be brought forward to lower taxable profits in subsequent years for tax computation.

Number of manuscripts equivalents are computed as follow: Each peer-reviewed manuscript is considered as 1 manuscript. Each book (monograph or collection) is 0.6 manuscript. Each book chapter (both peer-reviewed and un-reviewed) is 0.3 manuscript. Each technical report, R&D-based un-reviewed manuscript, abstract, poster and talk is 0.1 manuscript. Hence, my Return on Grants is calculated to be $269 per manuscript equivalent. Details are as follows:

Grants (calculated in Singapore Dollars)	Grant	Deductions	Accessible Grant	Cummulative Accessible Grant
2004-2008: Own Ph.D grant ($15000 for research, $100000 for stipend)	$115000	$100000 (3 manuscripts in 2007 [4], 2008 [5], 2009 [11], 2010 [12])	$15000	$15000
2008-2009: Internship for CyNote 1	$3200	$25000 (1 manuscript in 2010 [13])	($10900)	$4100
2009: MOE SMP (1.5 projects)	$750		$750	$4850
2009: 1 DBT Final Year Project	$4660	$840 (cost of micropipetters = $1050); $25000 (1 manuscript in 2010 [15])	($10590)	($5740)
2009: 1 SNHP Project	$350		$350	($5390)
2010: MOE SMP (1 project)	$500		$500	($4890)
2010: 2 DBT Final Year Projects	$8000	$25000 (1 manuscript in 2012 [29]) Note: $3500 allocated for general use.	($10250)	($15100)
2010: 2 SNHP Projects	$700		$700	($14400)
2011: MOE SMP (1 project)	$500		$500	($13900)
2011: EBD Grant (paying half of my salary in Life Technologies)	$37700	$25000 (1 manuscript in 2011 [21])	$12700	($1200)
2012: NIH Grant (87.5% of salary)	$45500	$25000 (1 manuscript in 2012 [27])	$20500	$19300
2013: Institutional Grant (SCBE, NTU) (100% of salary)	$61100	$25000 (1 manuscript in 2013 [36])	$36100	$55400
2014: MOE Grant (100% of salary)	$61100	$25000 (1 manuscript in 2014 [45])	$36100	$108205
2015: NEWRI Grant (100% of salary)	$55900	$25000 (1 manuscript in 2015 [48])	$30900	$86300
2015: iJAM Grant (to AdvanceSyn Pte Ltd; 20% ownership of $50000 grant)	$10000	$25000 (1 manuscript in 2016 [49])	($7500)	$78800
2016: NEWRI Grant (100% of salary)	$55900	$25000 (1 manuscript in 2016 [50])	$30900	$109700
2016: SPRING Proof-of-Concept Grant (to AdvanceSyn Pte Ltd; 10 of 12 months; 20% ownership of $208300 grant)	$41600	$25000 (1 manuscript in 2016 [51])	$16600	$126300
2017: SPRING Proof-of-Concept Grant (to AdvanceSyn Pte Ltd; 02 of 12 months; 20% ownership of $41600 grant)	$8320	$25000 (1 manuscript in 2016 [52])	($8340)	$117960
2017: NEWRI Grant (100% of salary)	$4800	$25000 (1 manuscript in 2017 [53])	($10100)	$107860
2018: 11 Honours Year Projects, Northumbria University (UK)	$9900	$25000 (1 manuscript in 2019 [56])	($7550)	$100310
2019: 13 Honours Year Projects, Northumbria University (UK)	$11700	$25000 (1 manuscript in 2018 [65])	($6650)	$93660
2020: 21 Honours Year Projects, Northumbria University (UK)	$18900	$25000 (1 manuscript in 2020 [82])	($3050)	$90610
2021: 4 Honours Year Projects, Northumbria University (UK)	$3600	$25000 (1 manuscript in 2021 [97])	($10700)	$79910
2021: Student project, Temasek Polytechnic (SG): GSM to KM converter	$8000	$25000 (1 manuscript in 2021 [102])	($8500)	$71410
2021: Student project, Temasek Polytechnic (SG): eDNA	$12000	$25000 (1 manuscript in 2021 [102])	($6500)	$64910
2022: 5 Honours Year Projects, Northumbria University (UK)	$4500	$25000 (1 manuscript in 2022 [111])	($10250)	$54660
2022: Student project, Temasek Polytechnic (SG): Python Statistics GUI	$5000	$25000 (1 manuscript in 2022 [112])	($10000)	$44660
2023: 9 Honours Year Projects, Northumbria University (UK)	$8100	$25000 (1 manuscript in 2023 [113])	($8450)	$36210

Number of manuscripts equivalents = 134.7 comprising of

Type of Publication	Count	Manuscript Equivalents
Peer-reviewed manuscripts	124	124
Books (monographs and collections)	5	3.0
Book chapters (peer-reviewed and un-reviewed)	12	3.6
Technical reports, Un-reviewed manuscripts, Abstracts, Posters and Talks	41	4.1
Total:	182	134.7

My gross grant amount of $596380 (before any of my listed deductions) divided by 134.7 manuscript equivalents still put me at $4428 per manuscript equivalent.