Do funding modes matter? A multilevel analysis of funding allocation mechanisms on university research performance

Over the last decades, most EU countries have profoundly reshaped their public research funding systems by shifting from traditional institutional block-funding towards more project-based mechanisms. The main rationale underlying this evolution builds on the assumption that project funding would fos...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Zacharewicz, Thomas, Pulido Pavón, Noemí, Palma Martos, Luis Antonio, Lepori, Benedetto
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repositorio:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/161566
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/161566
https://doi.org/10.1093/reseval/rvad023
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Research funding
Competitive funding
Research performance
Multilevel analysis
Research funding allocation mechanisms
Descripción
Sumario:Over the last decades, most EU countries have profoundly reshaped their public research funding systems by shifting from traditional institutional block-funding towards more project-based mechanisms. The main rationale underlying this evolution builds on the assumption that project funding would foster research performance through the introduction of competitive allocation mechanisms. In contrast with the general increase of project funding, evidence is mixed regarding a positive effect of competitive funding mechanisms on research performance, as some studies find a positive impact, other a negative one or no impact. Differences also appear across studies regarding research actors, funding streams, and research outputs considered. This article integrates these different approaches through a multilevel design gathering funding inputs for 10 countries and 148 universities between 2011 and 2019 and assesses their impact on the quantity and quality of publications. Results highlight no impact of national and university-level competitive funding mechanisms on universities highly cited publications and no clear effect on the quantity of publications.