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How many reviewers are required to obtain reliable evaluations of NIH R01 grant proposals?

How many reviewers are required to obtain reliable evaluations of NIH R01 grant proposals?

The National Institutes of Health uses small groups of scientists to judge the quality of the grant proposals that they receive, and these quality judgments form the basis of its funding decisions.  In order for this system to fund the best science, the subject experts must, at a minimum, agree as to what counts as a “quality”proposal.  We investigated the degree of agreement by leveraging data from a recent experiment with 412 scientists.

To Gather Insights into Open Rewards and Incentives, Survey Targets 200 European Funders

To Gather Insights into Open Rewards and Incentives, Survey Targets 200 European Funders

This week, SPARC Europe, in consultation with ALLEA, The European Foundation Centre (EFC) and Science Europe, sent surveys to almost 200 funding bodies throughout Europe. 

An HIV Treatment Cost Taxpayers Millions. The Government Patented It. But a Pharma Giant Is Making Billions.

An HIV Treatment Cost Taxpayers Millions. The Government Patented It. But a Pharma Giant Is Making Billions.

The extraordinary standoff between the CDC and a drug company over patent rights raises a big question for the Trump administration: How aggressively should the government attempt to enforce its patents against an industry partner?

Rent or Conference - Early-career Researchers Shouldn't Have to Choose

Rent or Conference - Early-career Researchers Shouldn't Have to Choose

Academic-conference season is upon us, says Jennifer Tsang. Should I advance my career? Or pay my rent?

Horizon Europe Will Connect the Public to European Science - Carlos Moedas

Horizon Europe Will Connect the Public to European Science - Carlos Moedas

The next European science and research funding programme, known as Horizon Europe, is designed to connect people with the achievements financed by their tax money, and to fix problems with innovation funding, according to Carlos Moedas, the European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation.

The Open Tide - How Openness in Research and Communication is Becoming the Default Setting

The Open Tide - How Openness in Research and Communication is Becoming the Default Setting

The UK has benefitted from funder incentives that make Open Access appealing for authors, while US funders have taken a less interventionist approach to Open Access. This in turn has led to increased international collaboration for UK researchers.

New Study of NIH Funding Says Women Get Smaller Grants Than Men

New Study of NIH Funding Says Women Get Smaller Grants Than Men

New study of NIH funding says women overall get smaller grants than men, even when controlling for research potential. The findings have implications for their long-term success in academic science.

International Differences in Basic Research Grant Funding - a Systematic Comparison

International Differences in Basic Research Grant Funding - a Systematic Comparison

Using a structured systematic comparative approach, this study analyses differences in basic research grant funding between the main academic research funding agency of Germany and the main agencies of five other countries, including the Swiss National Science Foundation. 

Chinese Government May Have Funded 'CRISPR Babies' Project

Chinese Government May Have Funded 'CRISPR Babies' Project

If the documents are correct, they would raise doubts about the preliminary findings of a government investigation that He Jianqui acted mostly on his own.

Bias Against Female Scientists Revealed in Study of Canadian Grants Program

Bias Against Female Scientists Revealed in Study of Canadian Grants Program

Female scientists are less likely to win research dollars from the federal government's grant agency (CIHR), when the grant application is reviewed based on the scientist leading the project, rather than the proposal.

Open Data Day 2019 Mini-grant Scheme

Open Data Day 2019 Mini-grant Scheme

Open Data Day is the yearly event where we gather to reach out to new people and build new solutions to issues in our communities using open data. To make sure some of those events have everything they needed to be great for their communities, mini-grants for the people organizing Open Data Day events will be provided.

Research Funding Bodies: Review of Good Practice in Organisational Design and Governance

Research Funding Bodies: Review of Good Practice in Organisational Design and Governance

This study presents a review of international evidence on best practice in organisational design of research and innovation funding bodies.

Models Highlight Inherent Inefficiencies of Scientific Funding Competitions

Models Highlight Inherent Inefficiencies of Scientific Funding Competitions

Scientists waste substantial time writing grant proposals, potentially squandering much of the scientific value of funding programs. This Meta-Research Article shows that, unfortunately, grant-proposal competitions are inevitably inefficient when the number of awards is small, but efficiency can be restored by awarding funds through a modified lottery, or by weighting past research success more heavily in funding decisions.

Commission Frees 'Seal of Excellence' Research Projects from State Aid Unfair Competition Rules

Commission Frees 'Seal of Excellence' Research Projects from State Aid Unfair Competition Rules

The change is intended to enable researchers to access structural funds for projects reviewers say are excellent, but which don’t make the cut for Horizon Europe grants.