1-3-1　Research Literature

Bibliographical and citation data generated by SciVal from Scopus and produced as a plot (data retrieval, October 21, 2025; documentary type limited to Articles, reviews, conference papers, books and book chapters).

1-3-2　Intellectual Property

Over the past three years, the university has filed around 25 patents annually, both domestically and internationally, reflecting a steady commitment to intellectual property development. Recent initiatives include licensing through industry partnerships and support for university startups, promoting the practical use of research outcomes.
Patent registrations remain concentrated in nanotechnology and materials science, the university’s core strengths. Meanwhile, growth in ICT and life sciences highlights an expanding and diversified research portfolio.

1-3-3　Intra-university research grants

1-3-4　External research funds

The figures below show the trends in the number of research projects led by Principal Investigators affiliated with Sophia University, as well as the total amount of research funding awarded.
The Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) is Japan’s largest competitive funding program that supports a wide range of creative and pioneering academic research from fundamental to applied research across all disciplines, including the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. In AY2024, while the total number of projects, including ongoing ones, decreased compared to the previous year, the overall funding amount increased significantly. For newly adopted projects, both the number of applications and the number of successful proposals rose, resulting in an improved acceptance rate.
Contract Research/External Collaborative Research and Scholarship Research Donations tends to fluctuate annually due to  changes in social and economic conditions and  the progress of individual research initiatives. Nevertheless, the university’s strategic efforts to promote collaboration among industry, government, and academia have contributed to a steady increase in the number of Contract and External Collaborative Research projects.