Researcher profiles, proposal submission, and project approval: an exploratory case study at a Brazilian Federal...

Decisions to enter funding competitions and subsequent funding outcomes are connected components of a broader process. However, evidence on how researcher-profile characteristics relate to these stages remains limited in public research institutions outside the research-intensive university sector, particularly in emerging-economy research systems.

This exploratory case study analyzed the associations between researcher-profile characteristics and two respondent-level outcomes among researchers at a Brazilian Federal Institute: proposal submission and, among submitters, self-reported approval of at least one project.

An online cross-sectional survey was completed by 83 of 327 eligible researchers (response rate 25.4%) in 2023. Data from this self-selected, single-institution sample were analyzed using bivariate contingency-table tests, exact tests for sparse tables, and Cramér's V as a descriptive effect-size measure. Findings were treated as hypothesis-generating.

Proposal submission was associated with education level (p = 0.020; V = 0.285) and teaching in a master's or doctoral degree program (p < 0.001; V = 0.409). Among respondents who submitted proposals, reporting at least one approved project was associated with age group (p = 0.011; V = 0.403) and CNPq productivity fellowship (PQ) status (p = 0.047; V = 0.284). The approval outcome was measured at the respondent level and did not represent a proposal-level success rate.

By distinguishing submission from approval, this study contributes to research evaluation by indicating that proposal submission and reporting at least one approved project among submitters were associated with different researcher-profile characteristics. These exploratory findings do not establish barriers or causal mechanisms. Multicenter, proposal-level, and longitudinal studies using explicit, context-sensitive definitions of career stage should test whether these patterns vary across institutions, fields, and career trajectories.