That conclusion can be drawn from a comparison NIH recently made of various classes of applicants' success rates (the percentage of research applications that are actually approved for funding).
Between 1978 and 1987, the independent labs NIH studied - all members of the Association of Independent Research Institutes (AIRI) - consistently showed a higher-than-average success rate of research grants. For some years, the advantage was slight, such as 1.3% in 1981. But in 1987, the gap widened dramatically: 44.7% of AIRI applicants won grants. In contrast, the overall average was 35.4%.
TI: SCIENCE GRANTS Below is a list of notable grants recently awarded in the sciences - large federal grants as well as awards of all sizes from private foundations. The individual cited with each entry is the project's principal investigator. The National Institutes of Health made the following grants for improving infrastructure for AIDS research: $1 million to Harvard ...
