FLICKR, IMAGES_OF_MONEY
The system for funding scientific research is broken.
This declaration came to my mind after I experienced three separate occurrences. The first was my application for a European research grant. At the end of the evaluation procedure, the reviewers wrote that my proposal was interesting, I had a good track record of publications, and the project had been well described. Nevertheless, they had to reject my application since I am a “good” but not “outstanding” researcher. This reply was received after I had applied for dozens of research grants without success.
My reading of a comment by John P. A. Ioannidis in Nature (477,529–531 2011) was the second occurrence. He wrote: “...the research behind 30 percent of the pivotal papers from Nobel Laureates in medicine, ...
