Understanding the funding characteristics of research impact: A proof-of-concept study linking REF 2014 impact case studies with Researchfish grant agreements

Background: All parts of the research community have an interest in understanding research impact whether that is around the pathways to impact, processes around impact, methods for measurement, describing impact and so on. This proof of concept study explored the relationship between research funding and research impact using the case studies submitted to the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF) exercise in 2014 as a proxy for impact. Methods: The paper describes an approach to link the REF impact case studies with the underpinning research grants present in the Researchfish dataset, primarily using the publications captured in both datasets. Where possible the methodology utilised unique identifiers such as Digital Object Identifiers and PubMed ID’s, and where this was not possible the funding information within each publication was used. Results: Through this automated approach 21% of the non-redacted case studies could be linked to a specific research grant. Additional qualitative analysis was then done for unlinked REF impact case studies, which involved reading the document to identify additional information to make the linkage. This approach was taken on 100 REF impact case studies selected at random and resulted in only seven having no identifiable research grants funding associated. The linked research grants were analysed to identify characteristics that are more frequently associated with these grants, than non-linked ones. Conclusions: This analysis did point to some interesting observations such as the grant funding linked to REF impact case studies are more likely to be longer, higher financial value, have more publications and be more collaborative (amongst other characteristics). These findings should be used with caution at present and not be over interpreted, this is due to the sample size for this proof of concept study and some potential limitations on the data which were not addressed at this stage.

Interdisciplinary researchers attain better long-term funding performance

Interdisciplinary research is on the rise globally. Yet, several studies have shown that it often achieves lower impact compared to more specialized work, and is less likely to attract funding. Here, we seek to reconcile such evidence by analyzing 44,419 research grants awarded by the research councils in the UK. We find that researchers with an interdisciplinary funding track record dominate the network of academic collaborations, both in terms of centrality and knowledge brokerage, but such a competitive advantage does not translate into immediate return. Our results based on a matched pair analysis show that interdisciplinary researchers achieve lower impact with their publications in the short run; however, they eventually outperform their specialized counterparts in funding performance, both in terms of volume and value. These findings suggest that pursuing an interdisciplinary career may require perseverance to overcome extra challenges, but can pave the way for a more successful endeavor.