The gravitational waves theorist saw physics as no one else did, but if he was around today his time would be spent chasing grants or tenures.

Research can only exist with good and secure funding, but when obtaining funding becomes a dominant part of investigators’ activity, the system has a problem.

Consultants think they can make publicly funded research more efficient. But they’re in danger of ignoring existing analyses – and real-life experience.

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the NIH has come up with a new system for funding researchers. Will the new Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award prove beneficial?

Funding agencies should highlight their roles as risk managers to underpin public trust.

There is an urgent need to reverse the decline in research funding, and a lot to discuss about how decisions are made. But setting up a death match between Big Science and the rest is not the way to go.

For half a century, the government funded research. Times are changing.

The same organisations that make it difficult to get a grant can be ridiculously laid back about how their money is spent once they have signed it over.

Advertising science as a driver of economic growth is a long‐term losing strategy.

The paper develops a credit allocation algorithm that captures the coauthors’ contribution to a publication as perceived by the scientific community.

The government peer-review committees that oversee grants are conservative by design. Given that their job is to put taxpayers’ money to good use, they are often reluctant to take big risks. The opposite is often true for crowdfunded projects.

A perverse focus on research cash and high-impact publications threatens careers and the aims of science itself, says Dorothy Bishop