This simulator illustrates the “snowball” effect where “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer”. Researchers are modelled with a probability to publish each year; if funding agencies favour high-publishers, they will get more funding, and therefore more students and collaborators; as a result they will publish more, rank higher, and get even better success rate in future funding applications. Another mechanism allows to enforce a variable teaching load rule (as it exists in some countries) where higher publishers get a reduced teaching load, allowing them to spend more time on research and increase their publications; on the other hand, low publishers will get a higher teaching load, have less time to publish, and decrease their chance to get funding.
The simulator allows you to experiment with various rules to either favour equity or create disparity: GO