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Different recipes for the same dish: Comparing policies for scientific excellence across different countries

Author

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  • Leon Cremonini
  • Edwin Horlings
  • Laurens K Hessels

Abstract

Many countries witness the rise of ‘excellence initiatives’. These policies promote vertical differentiation in the science system by funding top research performers and expecting positive spillover effects. However, current understanding of the functioning and (potential) effects of these instruments is limited. We compare policies aimed at promoting excellence in four countries (the UK, Germany, Denmark, and Switzerland), using secondary sources and fourteen expert interviews. Using the notion of coordination approaches as a heuristic tool, we characterise each policy in terms of the coordinating actor, the system addressed, the activities that are coordinated, the specific interventions taken, and the types of relationships affected. We find that countries adopt very different approaches to reach similar goals and thus bring into question appealing but simplistic ideas of ‘excellence’ as an agreed concept. Remarkably, excellence policies are more prone to reveal existing but tacit diversity in the system than to generate new relational patterns.

Suggested Citation

  • Leon Cremonini & Edwin Horlings & Laurens K Hessels, 2018. "Different recipes for the same dish: Comparing policies for scientific excellence across different countries," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 45(2), pages 232-245.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:scippl:v:45:y:2018:i:2:p:232-245.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/scipol/scx062
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Leila Jabrane, 2022. "Individual excellence funding: effects on research autonomy and the creation of protected spaces," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Péter Sasvári & Tamás Kaiser & Krisztián Várföldi & Csaba Fási, 2023. "Scientific Excellence and Publication Patterns: The Winning Applicants of the Bolyai János Research Scholarship in Hungary in 2021," Publications, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-18, September.
    3. Nicky Agate & Rebecca Kennison & Stacy Konkiel & Christopher P. Long & Jason Rhody & Simone Sacchi & Penelope Weber, 2020. "The transformative power of values-enacted scholarship," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(1), pages 1-12, December.
    4. Fiorentin, Florencia & Pereira, Mariano & Suárez, Diana, 2022. "The Gender Gap in Public S&T Funding: The Matilda Effect in STEM Disciplines in Argentina," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 11990, Inter-American Development Bank.

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