My personal experience from within medical research area is that its a combination of Matthew + Ortega. Lab heads bring in the money for the army of mediocre ph

My personal experience from within medical research area is that its a combination of Matthew + Ortega. Lab heads bring in the money for the army of mediocre phd and junior scientists who eventually leave the field for a variety of reasons. The labs churn through students and post docs. Some are lucky, hitting gold with a particular project and publishing in prestigious journals. Theyre the next gen of lab head who bring in money. In every lab there are a few ordinary scientists who are the work horses. Writing ethics, supervising students, keeping the new hot shot in line. They rarely get credit (middle author). Everything crumbles if the lab head leaves. Because they are effectively a CEO of a small company. Its imo the worst way to do science.