Autonomy wanted

What researchers value above all else

It’s rare to see a piece of empirical research that provides clear-cut insight into research policy. But a paper described on page 8 of this issue by Jürgen Janger of the Austrian Institute of Economic Research and Klaus Nowotny from the University of Salzburg does exactly that. The pair’s insight into what motivates university researchers, published in Research Policy, shows that quite a few policymakers are barking up the wrong tree.

Janger and Nowotny surveyed about 10,000 researchers with varying levels of experience and from different disciplines and countries. Their aim was to find out which job opportunities made the researchers tick.