Should grant applications be made anonymous?
I’d like to discuss a topic that I’ve found very intriguing lately.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA, the largest source of funding for biomedical research in the world, is currently considering making grant applications anonymous. The basis of this consideration is the belief that only an applicant’s research proposal—not his qualifications or institutional affiliations— should determine whether the project is worth funding. The agency hopes that this move will eliminate bias in determining projects that should be awarded funding.
NIH admits that in certain niche fields, even if applications are made anonymous, a review committee would be able to identify the author of the proposal on the basis of the work described, but they plan to take measures to account for this. The move toward anonymity would also seem logical given the increase in the number of interdisciplinary studies wherein review committee members might not recognize the authors.
What do you think about this proposal? Will anonymity eliminate bias? Or do you think it is important for author identity to be disclosed in grant applications? I invite a discussion on this subject and look forward to your views.
Published on: Oct 17, 2013
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