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A key challenge for research management and science policy is support of scientific exploration of new research frontiers. This paper examines funding schemes that aim to encourage scientists to conduct unconventional and high-risk research. Schemes are analyzed across institutional dimensions, such as: target group and field, selection process and criteria, budget size, and funding duration. It argues that sponsorship programs for ground-breaking research should: respond to the existing talent pool rather than setting arbitrary funding thresholds, undertake efforts to contend with the selection bias of peer review, and take an applicant's ongoing research into account. It discusses whether such programs should be within existing funding organizations, or if new funding agencies that are dedicated to sponsoring ground-breaking research should be set up.

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. While some believe that publication and citation scores are key predictors of breakthroughs in science, others claim that people who work at the intersection of scientific communities are more likely to be familiar with selecting and synthesizing alternatives into novel ideas. This paper contributes to this controversy by presenting a longitudinal comparison of highly creative scientists with equally productive researchers. The sample of creative scientists is identified by combining information on science awards and nominations by international peers covering research accomplishments in the mid-1990s. Results suggest that it is not only the sheer quantity of publications that causes scientists to produce creative pieces of work. Rather, their ability to effectively communicate with otherwise disconnected peers and to address a broader work spectrum also enhances their chances to be widely cited and to develop novel ideas. Terms of use: Documents in

For the first time, carboxymethyl starch (CMS) samples with a very high degree of substitution (DS CM ϭ 2.1) were synthesized by multistep carboxymethylation under heterogeneous reaction conditions in methanol/water with sodium hydroxide and monochloroacetic acid as an etherifying agent. The stepwise increase in the total DS CM value gradually decreased with an increasing DS CM value of the starting polymer. The determination of the functionalization pattern of CMS by 1 H-NMR spectroscopy after chain degradation indicated a high preference for