Has there been a noticeable change in the number of new investigators applying for research grants?
As noted earlier, between 1980 and 1995, the number of first-time applicants has stayed essentially constant, fluctuating between 3000-3500/year (Figure 2). Despite efforts to provide facilitated access to the research system, primarily through the R29, (and earlier through the R23), there appears to have been no increase in the numbers applying. The curb to the size of the applicant pool lies elsewhere. Furthermore, it is not a simple function of the number of Ph.D.s produced, since between the middle 1980s and the middle 1990s the average annual production of Ph.D.s in the biomedical sciences went up almost 25 percent. In any event, to the extent that the mechanisms developed were intended to increase the numbers applying, they have not been successful. Do the various mechanisms facilitate progression to an R01? Although the intent of all the mechanisms was to assist new investigators, their goals were distinctly different. The R23 and R29 were intended to provide a facilitated entry
