Research is a common good

The world of research is now rightly wondering about its future. Discontent is growing among laboratories, journals and staff who are worried about the measures announced: evaluations would be more numerous, funding would be less and less sustainable, the status of teacher-researchers could be reassessed. These announcements confirm the growing disinterest of public authorities in research that is generally underfunded, in which jobs are becoming increasingly precarious, and which, despite these obstacles, continues to be of quality in France – and recognized as such abroad.

The Life of Ideas joins in these concerns and the reflection that these projects must initiate: on the means given to the increase of knowledge, on the status of those who devote themselves to it, on the evolution of a profession which sees administrative tasks take precedence over research, on the chronic freezing of positions which weaken teaching structures and laboratories. This deterioration has a history: the articles that we have published in recent years, and which we recall here, show that the debate on research is often poorly posed, and that very often the public authorities believe they are taking inspiration from funding models (most often from across the Atlantic) which in reality do not exist. They also show that the increase in evaluation often comes from a profound lack of understanding of the way in which research develops and obeys more the pressure of international rankings.

More articles on these issues will be published soon.