Peer review has developed over time to become the established procedure for assessing and assuring the scientific quality of research. Nevertheless, the procedure has also been variously criticized as conservative, biased, and unfair, among other things. Do scientists regard all these flaws as equally problematic? Do they have the same opinions on…

Previous studies of the use of peer review for the allocation of competitive funding agencies have concentrated on questions of efficiency and how to make the 'best' decision, by ensuring that successful applicants are also the more productive or visible in the long term. This paper examines the components of feedback received from an unsuccessful…

Background: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a revised, expanded definition of 'clinical trial' in 2014 to improve trial identification and administrative compliance. Some stakeholders voiced concerns that the policy added administrative burden potentially slowing research progress. Methods: This quasi-experimental study examined…

This study examines a basic assumption of peer review, namely, the idea that there is a consensus on evaluation criteria among peers, which is a necessary condition for the reliability of peer judgements. Empirical evidence indicating that there is no consensus or more than one consensus would offer an explanation for the "disagreement…

The extent to which predatory journals can harm scientific practice increases as the numbers of such journals expand, in so far as they undermine scientific integrity, quality, and credibility, especially if those journals leak into prestigious databases. Journal Citation Reports (JCRs), a reference for the assessment of researchers and for…

Only a few studies consider heterogeneity in the effects of investment grants (subsidies) across firm size. Therefore, we investigate the effects of particular public policy on firm-level performance with a focus on firm size heterogeneity as an important determinant. We aim to investigate whether the larger-sized firms benefit from the direct…

This paper seeks to examine whether there is heterogeneity in the impacts of research grant funding, by examining whether before--after differences in citation impact are related to the past performance of grantees. Analysis of the heterogeneity in funding impacts can potentially inform the selection of awardees and the design of funding…

Impact statements are increasingly required and assessed in grant applications. In this study, we used content analysis to examine the 'comments on impact' section of the postal reviews and related documents of Science Foundation Ireland's Investigators' Programme to understand reviewers' "ex ante" impact assessment. We found three key…

This article investigates the impact of tax incentives targeting young innovative firms and broader R&D tax incentives where effects on young firms are observed. It examines effects on R&D additionality, R&D wages, employment growth, turnover growth, and sales growth from innovative activities. It draws on academic literature and…

European Research Council Grants (ERC) have become the most important vehicle for funding scientific research in the EU. Since their creation in 2007, they have provided funding for around 7,000 of the nearly 70,000 proposals for research projects submitted. With a success rate of about 11%, these Grants are highly competitive. Despite major…

Responding to the lack of in-depth research into the effects of R&D grants for scale-ups, this article examines how they impact upon firms' employment, firm economic and innovative performance, and firm innovative activities. Drawing on both policy evaluations and empirical literature relating to R&D programmes and firms' outputs, it…

This study investigates the relationship between resource concentration/stability and new results/breakthroughs in the context of a Swedish Center of Excellence (CoE) scheme. A common assumption in using the CoE instrument is that there is a scale return to research on concentration of funds. However, the details of how funding connects to such…

To blind or not researcher's identity has often been a topic of debate in the context of peer-review process for scientific publication and research grant application. This article reports on how knowing the name and experience of researchers/institutions influences the qualification of a proposal. We present our experience of managing the…