Randomised trials are often funded by commercial companies and methodological studies support a widely held suspicion that commercial funding may influence trial results and conclusions. However, these studies often have a risk of confounding and reporting bias. The risk of confounding is markedly reduced in meta-epidemiological studies that…

Early career researchers are faced with the expectation of their scientific communities to conduct independent research, which is reflected in the development of independent new research lines. This change must take place under conditions that vary between national career systems. Case studies for a chair system (Germany) and two tenure systems,…

The analytical problems faced by gross interstate comparisons of higher education funding are reviewed, the overall usefulness to decision-makers of interstate comparisons, and other approaches to comparative analysis are considered. It is claimed that the usefulness of gross interstate comparisons is limited, since both technical and structural…

ALTHOUGH THE HUMANITIES ARE EXPERIENCING IN THIS COUNTRY AN UNPRECEDENTED EXPANSION AND INCREASE IN NUMBER OF DEGREES GRANTED AND IN FINANCIAL SUPPORT, THEY HAVE SUFFERED A RELATIVE DECLINE IN STUDENT ENROLLMENT, FINANCIAL SUPPORT AND STUDENT QUALITY WHEN COMPARED TO OTHER AREAS OF STUDY. THIS PLIGHT OF THE HUMANITIES STEMS FROM A "METHODOLOGICAL…