Evaluation of a lottery first approach to funding published in Nature Communications
Several members of the OSI of the University of Luebeck had the opportunity to evaluate novel approaches to distribute third-party funding in Germany. In cooperation with the StiL they got the exclusive opportunity to test whether a lottery as an initial step to access a peer-review third-party funding line is indeed beneficial. It shows that it can help to reduced societal costs in the context of always increasing volumes of to be evaluated grants while female researchers also applied more frequently and were more equally represented in funding decisions and the system was generally well appreciated.
For a broader background on the current issues in third-party funding and full analyses of the evaluation of the lottery-first approach, please have a look at the just released paper in Nature Communications and the press release of the University of Luebeck.
Abstract:
Research funding is a key determinant of scientific progress. However, current allocation procedures for third-party funding are criticized due to high costs and biases in the selection. Here, we present data from a large German funding organization on an implementation of a lottery-first approach followed by peer review to allocate funding. We examine the changes in submissions and funded projects of female applicants after implementation, estimate the costs of the overall allocation process, and report on the attitudes and satisfaction of researchers and reviewers. The data show an increase of 10% in submissions and a 23% increase in funded projects from female applicants with the lottery-first approach compared to a previously used procedure. Additionally, the lottery-first approach was estimated to have 68% lower economic costs compared to a conventional single-stage peer review approach. Satisfaction with this funding approach was high and around half of applicants preferred an initial lottery followed by peer review over a conventional approach. Thus, the lottery-first approach is a promising addition to allocation procedures.
