The Ripple Effects of Funding on Researchers and Output
Affiliations
Using unique, new, matched UMETRICS data on people employed on research projects and Author-ity data on biomedical publications, this paper shows that National Institutes of Health funding stimulates research by supporting the teams that conduct it. While faculty-both principal investigators (PIs) and other faculty-and their productivity are heavily affected by funding, so are trainees and staff. The largest effects of funding on research output are ripple effects on publications that do not include PIs. While funders focus on research output from projects, they would be well advised to consider how funding ripples through the wide range of people, including trainees and staff, employed on projects.
Rose J, Ma B, Rojas E, Castro-Nunez J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2025; 29(1):60.
PMID: 40035893 PMC: 11880069. DOI: 10.1007/s10006-025-01354-2.
Lagisz M, Bairos-Novak K, Martinig A, Bertram M, Mizuno A, Shafiei Sabet S Proc Biol Sci. 2025; 292(2040):20241430.
PMID: 39904379 PMC: 11793960. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2024.1430.
Nguyen A, Venkatesh D, Biyani A, Ratan S, Youn G, Wu A BMJ Open Ophthalmol. 2024; 9(1).
PMID: 38417914 PMC: 10900313. DOI: 10.1136/bmjophth-2023-001323.
National Institutes of Health research project grant inflation 1998 to 2021.
Lauer M, Wang J, Roychowdhury D Elife. 2023; 12.
PMID: 36762661 PMC: 9984192. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.84245.
Labor advantages drive the greater productivity of faculty at elite universities.
Zhang S, Wapman K, Larremore D, Clauset A Sci Adv. 2022; 8(46):eabq7056.
PMID: 36399560 PMC: 9674273. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abq7056.