Declines in research funding and science ecosystem fragility

2026-06-08

AI Summary

This study addresses the significant disruption to global cancer research caused by sharp declines in U.S. federal research funding, which critically impairs information flow within the international scientific ecosystem. The authors construct a five-layer multiplex network encompassing 233 countries and regions—integrating grant funding, clinical trial collaborations, co-authorship, co-invention, and joint patent holdings—and introduce compensatory analysis into research ecosystem studies for the first time. By combining this framework with network efficiency metrics, they quantify systemic resilience and reveal that the European Union and BRICS nations disproportionately shoulder compensatory responsibilities. Building on these findings, the paper proposes actionable pathways to strengthen international collaboration as a means to enhance the resilience of the global cancer research infrastructure.

Abstract

Scientific knowledge advances through within-country and cross-border scientific activities and collaborations, influenced by funding and strength of research enterprise. Sudden declines in research funding, for example from Federal sources in the United States (US) 2024-25, adversely impact on scientific collaboration. How rapid declines in funding affect the science enterprise and the magnitude of impact need to be analysed. Past studies have modelled the global scientific system as complex collaborative networks of entities and studied its topology and dynamics. However, these studies have not undertaken compensation analysis to real-world shocks that have produced rapid declines in scientific research funding. In this study we examine the effect of the sharp declines in the US Federal funding on cancer science research enterprise globally. We model the cancer science ecosystem as a 5-layer multiplex network of collaborative linkages between 233 countries and territories in grants and clinical trial co-investigations, paper co-authorships, co-inventions and patent co-ownerships. We quantify information flow in the multiplex system through network efficiency. Proposing a framework for compensation analysis, we show that sharp declines in US Federal funding for research degrade global information exchange in science, imposing outsized compensatory burdens on country groups such as the European Union (EU) and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). However, we also show that if other countries provide more support for international collaborations, there is an opportunity to remodel the cancer science system to be more resilient to future shocks.

Problem

• research funding decline
• science ecosystem
• scientific collaboration
• cancer research
• global scientific system

Innovation

• multiplex network
• compensation analysis
• research funding shock
• scientific collaboration
• network efficiency