Hmm, I've not really seen this myself. Sure there are some nations that suck, but there's usually a few that are going nuts with the research. Then again I'm playing largish maps with 10+ opponents, maybe your sample is skewed if you play fewer opponents or smaller maps. High level magic probably isn't worth as much on a smaller map anyway, since the time to get to it (and have the gem economy to use it) might be too long.
Its somewhat dependant on how you like to research as well, if you are a gung ho researcher you should notice that the other nations are lacking there (but its reletive
). If you are playing Ulm (usually...) then you should notice that you arn't in front, or even in the middle.