Tuyển tập các báo cáo nghiên cứu về y học được đăng trên tạp chí y học Minireview cung cấp cho các bạn kiến thức về ngành y đề tài: The system is broken. | Comment The system is broken Gregory A Petsko Address Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center Brandeis University Waltham MA 02454-9110 USA. Email petsko@ Published 30 March 2006 Genome Biology 2006 7 105 doi gb-2006-7-3-l05 The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at http 2006 7 3 105 2006 BioMed Central Ltd It s not true that things have never been this bad before. They were about the same in the early 1970s. But it is true that they have never been worse. When a scientist doing work in genomics or cell biology or biochemistry or immunology submits a grant proposal to the US National Institutes of Health NIH the largest supporter of life science research in the world his or her chance of it being funded are at historic lows. And this situation is threatening to destroy the jewel in the crown of US science the system of competitive peer review of research applications. In contrast to the hierarchical system in many other countries where research funds are often distributed to heads of departments or centers who then dole them out to their component research groups in the United States most university research faculty are independent entrepreneurs who compete with one another for funding on the basis of the quality of their proposals. The competition is judged by the applicant s peers - scientists in the same general area of research. This Darwinian selection system has for over half a century largely guaranteed that merit not cronyism determines what science is supported by the federal government. The procedure is straightforward and until now has worked remarkably well. But I think the procedure has stopped working well because of the perception that financial support for science in the US is drying up. Thanks to the war in Iraq and tax cuts mostly for the richest Americans federal funding for life science research which doubled over a seven year period not long ago has .
