Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - English

In the Berlin Science Survey, respondents were asked about their perception of competition at different levels: in their own field of research, within their own institution, and within their own research group. It reveals, that at the level of research fields competition is perceived quite strong, while it is significantly less pronounced at the organisational level between research groups and within the own research group.

Competition is one of the most controversial concepts of our time. The question of how much competition is good and when competition becomes dysfunctional is not only relevant for the field of science, but could also be asked for other areas of society. The fact that competition prevails is often unquestioned, e.g., with the term location competition. In other cases, competitions are implemented as a procedure to bring about and legitimise a selective distribution of scarce resources, for example in the distribution of research funds, not least in the federal government's “Excellence Strategy”.

Figure 1 Perception of competition

But what does competition do to research cultures and work cultures and ultimately to the work of individual scientists? In the Berlin Science Survey, respondents were asked about their perception of competition at different levels: in their own field of research, within their own institution, and within their own research group (see Figure 1). Less than 2% state that they perceive no competition at all in their research field. Hence, it is almost impossible to operate without competition at the level of research fields.  In contrast, competition is significantly less pronounced at the organisational level between research groups and within the own research group. In relation to their own research field, 48.8% of scientists report “strong” competition and a further 27.2% report “very strong” competition. At the institutional level, competition is already significantly minimized. 25.3% perceive “strong” competition and 9.3% perceive “very strong” competition. Instead, “weak” competition predominates (47.7%), and 17.8% perceive “no” competition at all between different areas of work within their institution. Within the direct working environment, at the level of working groups and teams, competition is once again significantly reduced. Here, 39.2% perceive “no” competition and 42.4% perceive “weak” competition. A significant minority also perceive “strong” (14.5%) or “very strong” (3.8%) competition within their workplace (see Figure 1).

Figure 2 Perception of competition, by subject group

A comparison of the subject fields shows that the same pattern applies across the board, with only slight differences (see Figure 2). Competition in one's own research field is perceived somewhat more strongly in the humanities and social sciences and somewhat less strongly in the engineering sciences. The situation is similar within research groups. Life scientists perceive competition within the organisation between research groups more strongly than the representatives of other subject groups (see Figure 2).

Professors feel the competition within the own research field somewhat more than predocs and postdocs. Postdocs perceive it slightly more within the organisation (institute) and within the the own research groups (see Figure 3).

Figure 3 Perception of competition, by status group

The Berlin Science Survey

The Berlin Science Survey (BSS) is a scientific trend study on cultural change in the Berlin research landscape. To this end, the Robert K. Merton Center for Science and Technology Studies at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin regularly surveys the experiences and assessments of scientists in the Berlin research area online. 2,776 female scientists in the Berlin research area took part in the most recent study. We would like to express our sincere thanks to everyone who took part in the study. The whole report with all topics can be found here:
https://www.berlinsciencesurvey.de/en/results24/sum