Award rate inequities in biomedical research

Abstract

Purpose The analysis of existing institutional research proposal databases can provide novel insights into science funding parity. The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between race/ethnicity and extramural research proposal and award rates across a medical school faculty and to determine whether there was evidence that researchers changed their submission strategies because of differential inequities across submission categories. Method The authors performed an analysis of 14,263 biomedical research proposals with proposed start dates between 2010–2022 from the University of Michigan Medical School, measuring the proposal submission and award rates for each racial/ethnic group across 4 possible submission categories (R01 & Equivalent programs, other federal, industry, and non-profit). Results Researchers from each self-identified racial/ethnic group (Asian, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino) pursued a different proposal submission strategy than the majority group (White). The authors found that Black/African American researchers experienced negative award rate differentials across all submission categories, which resulted in the lowest R01 & Equivalent and Other Federal submission rates of any racial/ethnic group and the highest submission rate to non-profit sources. The authors did not find support for the hypothesis that researchers changed submission strategies in response to award rate inequalities across submission categories. Conclusions Biomedical researchers from different racial/ethnic groups follow markedly different proposal submission strategies within the University of Michigan Medical School. There is also a clear relationship between race/ethnicity and rates of proposal award. Black/African American and Asian researchers appear disadvantaged across all submission categories relative to White researchers. This study can be easily replicated by other academic research institutions, revealing opportunities for positive intervention.

Systemic racial disparities in funding rates at the National Science Foundation

“…Additional dynamics disadvantaging non-white PIs were found: Black/AA and Asian PIs revised and resubmitted applications more times than white PIs before getting funded, and Black/AA PIs were also less likely to revise and resubmit a new proposal after a failed attempt due to lower review scores ( Ginther et al, 2011 ; Hoppe et al, 2019 ; Ginther et al, 2016 ). Similarly, in a study of proposal submission patterns of faculty at a single medical school from 2010 to 2022, Black/AA PIs submitted 40% fewer R01 proposals than white PIs on a per-PI basis (Tables 1 and 4 from Zimmermann et al, 2022 ). Another study of both gender and race found that Black/AA and Asian women investigators were less likely to receive an R01 award than white women, highlighting a “double bind” for women of color ( Ginther et al, 2016 ).…”