New Science report urges NSF to run experiments on science funding reform
alexeyguzey · x · 2026-10-16
New Science published a report on the NSF by Matt Faherty, shared by Alexey Guzey.
- The NSF, though well-run, shares the NIH's incentive problems: hyper-competition, conservative funding, bureaucratic burden.
- Most reform proposals (people-over-projects funding, funding replications) can't be judged rigorously because metascience lacks accepted measures of scientific output quality.
- Recommendation: the NSF, NIH, and federal government should invest heavily in metascience and test reforms experimentally; the NSF's September 2026 Office of Metascience is a welcome step.
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