I the Czech science, 1/2 of the money in less then four years will be distributed solely upon the article ranking based on ISI Thomson and number of invented technologies. See www.vyzkum.cz (in Czech). As it looks from current calculations, theoretical science shall profit a lot while experimental science shall hardly save its skin unless it is linked to applications.
Fair or not? This is really hard to say, since in my experience a lot of academic experimental articles would benefit from a) consistency control and that comes only from multiple repetitions. It is only the practical use that really ensures it. b) A lot of academic articles is logically inconsistent which may only be avoided if they are theoretically justified.