The current academic system doesn’t incentivise risk-taking
But playing it safe can have negative consequences for a field
Risk is a public virtue and a private liability in science. Early-career researchers under pressure to secure a long-term contract or to draft top-quality manuscripts in a system that increasingly favours familiar science will usually decide to ‘play it safe’. This is not a personal failing, but a rational response to the incentives we have built. The question is how much gets lost under this structure.