It can be a bit of a pain to start new research topics because you have to remember if you're already researching something elsewhere; and, for repeatable research topics that lead to get-one-frees, you want to make sure you're not researching it more times than there are get-one-frees left to learn.
Currently I use the "new" indicator to remind me what I'm currently researching elsewhere, but this is imprecise (eg. if you start and cancel something you have to remember to re-tag it as new) and prevents me from using it for its intended purpose. Plus accidentally hitting the "tag all as seen" button can ruin everything.
So I suggest that the "new research project" list indicate which things you're currently researching elsewhere and how many times - perhaps a small red (x1), (x3) etc. after the research topic in the list of possible new projects, showing how many of your other bases are researching that topic already.