Unsuccessful research funding applications: a scoping review of causes and impacts on Australian researchers and research projects

Research funding plays a significant role in achieving innovative development in health, education, and society. On average only 10–20% of research funding applications in Australia are successful. There is a paucity of studies on the causes and impacts of unsuccessful research funding applications on Australian researchers and research projects. A scoping review of primary studies and grey literature published between 1980 and 2022 from databases such as Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest, PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), OVID, and Google Scholar was conducted. Five studies published between 1992 and 2016 were identified, among which four focused on early career researchers and one focused on female academics. The main themes include causes of unsuccessful research funding applications and the impacts on research projects and Australian researchers. The causes of unsuccessful research funding applications include researchers’ profiles, funding application processes, institutional support, and government involvement. The impacts of unsuccessful research funding applications on Australian researchers include job security, wasted time and effort, and discouragement. The impacts on research projects include abandonment, resubmission to the same or different funding body, and proceeding with the research project. There is a need for further studies on researchers’ coping strategies and the institutional support available to researchers.