Well, I couldn't follow your example to well, but I understand what you are getting at. Say you have 25 research on one planet and fully fund it 100% with 100% focus on research. Under the planet info screen you can also click on the bullseye shaped icons at the top of the screen to focus on Mil, Soc, or Research spending FYI. Now say in another game you have 50 research but are only funding it 60% to balance your budget and have your mil, soc, and research all split 33% each. Basically in the first example you can research techs ALOT faster because it is pumping the max BCs per turn into your research. In the second example, even though you have more research potential but your industrial output is reduced and your BCs spread out among the three production types. Just because you have the potential for research doesn't mean you are utilizing it. I tend to focus on 100% research for a while at the beginning to snap up a dozen or so techs in about a dozen turns, but you will find that after the first few techs in any research tree the weeks required ramp up considerably. So in the end you need to balance trade, economy, military, research, etc. to stay competitive and focus on what you are good at. It is possible you are experiencing a bug, but my money is on the complex dynamics of production and focus that are hard to grasp at first.
