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The agencies that disburse research funds must have clear rationales for rejecting grant proposals amid a surge in applications.Credit: Matt Cardy/Getty

Last month, the European Research Council (ERC) announced a policy change for some of its grants: it extended the period in which some unsuccessful applicants would not be able to reapply. The ERC, Europe’s premier research funder with more than €16 billion (US$19 billion) to disburse in 2021–27, was responding to a surge in applications, which appear to be driven partly by the use of artificial-intelligence tools.

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