Year: 2015
Type: preprint
Abstract: Sir, We write as senior scientists about a problem vital to the scientific enterprise and prosperity. Nowadays, funding is a lengthy and complex business. First, universities themselves must approve all proposals for submission. Funding agencies then subject those that survive to peer review, a process by which a few researchers, usually acting anonymously, assess a proposal's chances that it will achieve its goals, is the best value for money, is relevant to a national priority and will impact on a socio-economic problem. Only 25% of proposals received by the funding agencies are funded. These protracted processes force researchers to exploit existing knowledge, severely discourage open-ended studies and are hugely time-consuming. They are also new: before 1970, few researchers wrote proposals. Now they are virtually mandatory.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Braben, Donald W, Allen, John F, Amos, William, Ball, Richard, Bayley, Hagan, Birkhead, Tim, Cameron, Peter, Campbell, Eleanor, Cogdell, Richard, Colquhoun, David, Davies, Steve, Dowler, Rod, Edwards, Peter, Engle, Irene, Fernandez-Armesto, Felipe, Fitzgerald, Desmond, Frampton, Jon, Glover, Dame Anne, Hall, John, Heslop-Harrison, Pat, Herschbach, Dudley, Huang, Sui, Kimble, H Jeff, Kroto, Sir Harry, Ladyman, James, Lawrence, Peter, Leake, Mark, Leroi, Armand, Logan, David, MacIntyre, Angus, Marchesi, Julian, Mattick, John, McLeish, Colin McInnes. Tom, Medley, Graham, Miller, Thomas, Nesse, Randolph, Pollack, Gerald, Pelloni, Beatrice, Randall, Douglas, Ray, David, Roberts, Sir Richard J, Seddon, Ken, Self, Colin, Swinney, Harry, Troy, Chris Thomas. William, Tucker, Robin, Vita-Finzi, Claudio, Wild, David
Language: English
Subfield: Information Systems and Management
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: Florida State University, California Institute of Technology, University of Missouri, Harvard University, Arizona State University, University of Washington, University of Pittsburgh, University of Notre Dame, Queen Mary University of London, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of Leicester, University of Warwick, Imperial College London, University College London, University of Oxford, University of Reading, University of Glasgow, Cardiff University, University of Aberdeen, University of Bristol, Durham University, Queen's University, National Academy of Sciences, U.S. Naval Academy
OpenAlex ID: W7021743860