  Research funding systems are not isolated systems - they are embedded in a
larger scientific system with an enormous influence on the system. This paper
aims to analyze the allocation of competitive research funding from different
perspectives: How reliable are decision processes for funding? What are the
economic costs of competitive funding? How does competition for funds affect
doing risky research? How do competitive funding environments affect scientists
themselves, and which ethical issues must be considered? We attempt to identify
gaps in our knowledge of research funding systems; we propose recommendations
for policymakers and funding agencies, including empirical experiments of
decision processes and the collection of data on these processes. With our
recommendations we hope to contribute to developing improved ways of organizing
research funding.
