The Division of Science Resources Studies (SRS) of the National Science Foundation publishes the biennial report, National Patterns of R&D Resources. This report describes and analyzes current patterns of research and development (R&D) in the United States, in relation to the historical record and the reported R&D levels of other industrialized countries. For years in which the full report is not produced, current, annual statistics on national and international R&D trends are released in data updates like this one.

Tables 1-7 of this update contain NSF's most current information to date regarding R&D expenditures in the U.S. The expenditure levels reported are broken out by:  

For the first four of these categories, annual data are provided that date back to the 1950s, which are amenable to time-series analysis of the economic history of R&D in the U.S. Similarly, the geographic data, which are in reference to 1995, are amenable to cross-sectional analysis.

Table 8 supplies international R&D data pertaining to the major industrialized "group of seven" countries (the U.S., Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Canada). These data include total R&D and non-defense R&D in constant 1992 dollars (by purchasing power parity), and as a percent of national GDP.

A brief summary of the main findings for 1999 is provided in the SRS Data Brief, "R&D as a Percentage of GDP Continues Upward Climb". Researchers may also wish to examine the previous report National Patterns of R&D Resources: 1998 for more extensive analysis of historical R&D trends, for more detailed breakdowns of R&D expenditure (such as by academic fields of study or sector of private industry), or for explanations of methodological and technical aspects of how the R&D statistics have been obtained and compiled. This level of information and analysis will again be provided in the forthcoming report National Patterns of R&D Resources: 2000.

Note that R&D expenditure levels from Federal sources, presented here based on performer-reported surveys, differ from the Federal R&D funding totals reported by the Federal agencies that provide those funds. During the past several years, these differences have widened. The difference in the Federal R&D totals appear to be concentrated in the funding of industry by the Department of Defense. See National Patterns of R&D Resources: 1998 and the forthcoming National Patterns of R&D Resources: 2000 for detailed discussion and documentation of these differences.

Notes on How to Read the Tables

The first eight tables (1A, 1B, 2A, ..., 4B) are symmetrically arranged to allow for direct comparisons of R&D data organized in two ways: (1) by performer first and then by source, or (2) by source first and then by performer. The first case effectively asks, "what type of organization performs the R&D, and for that type of performer, from what kinds of organizations does it receive its funding?" The second case effectively asks, "what type of organization provides funding for R&D, and to which kinds of performers does it provide those funds?"

For example, the upper left-hand corners of 1A and 1B are displayed below, which represent cases 1 and 2, respectively. In table 1A, the column for the Federal Government as a performer, as defined in the first row, is not subdivided because the Federal Government is the only source of funds for Federal intramural research. Industry performance, in contrast, is subdivided by the two main sources of industrial performance: the Federal Government and industry's own funds.

In table 1B, on the other hand, the Federal Government as a source defines a column in the first row, which is subdivided into several columns in the second row for the performers that receive those funds, such as the Federal Government itself and industry.

The third row of each table provides the column number for table 7, containing annual historical data from 1953--98 (where data for 1998 and 1999 are preliminary). Note, for instance, that, in table 1A, industrial performance that is funded by Federal support is designated as column "[4]" in table 7. In table 1B, Federal support that is directed to industry performers is also designated as column "[4]" because these two concepts are identically equal, and thus, they are represented by the same column in table 7.

The A and B parts of tables 2, 3, and 4 are structured in exactly the same manner as the A and B parts of table 1, but tables 2, 3, and 4 refer to basic research, applied research, and development, respectively, rather than total R&D (the sum of those three components).

List of Tables

References to Research Studies That Use National Patterns Data

Instructions for having us add a reference to one of our lists

Please help us serve you better . . .

We would be grateful for any references that you could provide for us. You are welcome to tell us about your own published work or work published by others.

We are collecting and displaying these "references to research studies" for four reasons:

• To help researchers who are working on science-resource topics find each other and learn about each other's results;
  
  
• To see how our data are being used and studied, so that we may develop them to better meet our customers' needs;
  
  
• To learn, and help inform others, about what has actually been discovered with regard to science resources; and
  
  
• To better contribute to the literature on science resources (both scholarly and publicly-oriented literature) through increased interaction with the rest of the research community.

Criteria for being listed as a reference . . .

We will list all references that meet the following criteria, and will not make any value judgments regarding the quality of the research conducted.

The work in question must make significant use of data provided in the National Patterns report. That is, at least one of the main findings of the work (e.g., one of the key points made in a conclusion section) relies on the use of National Patterns data.

The work must be published in an outlet that is generally recognized as contributing to (and not just reporting on) the current body of knowledge on science resources or related topics. Such outlets include:

• Articles published in journals with significant recognition as contributors to scholarly thought. To make this requirement feasible in practice, we require that the journal meet at least one of the following two criteria:
  
  
  • It is included in either the Science Citation Index or the Social Science Citation Index of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI).
    
    
  • It is a peer-reviewed, technical journal that is commonly held by major academic libraries.
    
    
• Books and monographs that are recognized by the Library of Congress as published works. This could include individual chapters of a book with contributions from multiple authors.
  
  
• Doctoral dissertations, also recognized by the Library of Congress.

How to inform us about a reference you would like us to list . . .

Just send us the a copy of the work in the regular mail, along with a signed cover letter that provides a full reference to the work and a statement that your research did rely on National Patterns data. Earmark the pages and highlight the text where National Patterns data are mentioned. For books, dissertations, and monographs, you need only send one chapter that best demonstrates reliance on National Patterns data. Copies made on both sides of a page are acceptable.

Address for Correspondence:

Dr. Steven Payson
Senior Science Resources Analyst
4201 Wilson Blvd.
Suite 965.23
Arlington, VA 22230

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Links to additional reports in the National Patterns of Research and Development Resources series are available on the publication series page.

Last Modified: Monday, 15-Nov-99 13:35:44Comments to srsweb@nsf.gov