In the study "Field size as a predictor of 'excellence.' The selection of subject fields in Germany's Excellence Initiative", Thomas Heinze and his colleagues from the Department of Sociology at the University of Wuppertal and Forschungszentrum Jülich look at the German Excellence Initiative - a state funding programme carried out by the German Research Foundation (DFG) from 2005 to 2017.

While earlier studies looked at the effects on entire universities, the study now published analyses the selection criteria at the level of scientific disciplines. Using a combination of descriptive analyses and logistic regression models, the study investigated which institutional factors increased the likelihood of a subject being funded as part of the Excellence Initiative.

Three aspects in particular were decisive for success: Firstly, large subjects with a high number of professorships and extensive research infrastructure were funded more often than average. Secondly, subjects with a high level of third-party funding had significantly better chances of being categorised as "excellent". Thirdly, the probability of being considered in the second funding phase (2012-2017) was largely dependent on having already received funding in the first phase (2006-2011).

According to the authors of the study, the analysis shows that the Excellence Initiative primarily reproduced and reinforced existing conditions and size structures in the German higher education landscape: the largest and already well-funded universities benefited to an above-average extent, while smaller and less established institutions were barely able to catch up. They found that the funding principle was not primarily based on relative academic productivity (e.g. publication output per professor), but rather on the absolute size of a subject and its third-party funding income.

Thomas Heinze: "This development raises critical questions in light of international comparative studies, which show that excellent research is often carried out in smaller, highly specialised teams." Similar programmes in other countries such as the Netherlands, for example, strive for a broader distribution of funding. In summing up their findings, the researchers therefore recommend that future funding programmes should focus more on qualitative performance indicators instead of primarily favouring large units: "In order to ensure the long-term competitiveness of German universities, we believe that broader support for innovative disciplines would make sense," says Heinze.

The entire study is available here: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0300828