National Patterns of R&D Resources 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. In years when the full report is not published, the Division of Science Resources Statistics makes available "data update tables" (like those provided below) giving researchers access to the most current data.
Please Note: For trend comparisons, use only the historical data reported here. These tables incorporate the latest revisions to prior-year data, including recently revised estimates of R&D performance by nonprofit organizations. Do not use data published earlier.
Tables 1-7 and Table D below contain NSF's most current information to date regarding R&D expenditures in the United States. The expenditure levels reported are broken out by:
| Source of funds | Federal government, nonfederal government, industry, academia, and nonprofit institutions |
| R&D performer | Federal government, industry, academia, nonprofit institutions, and federally funded research and development centers |
| Character of work | Basic research, applied research, and development |
| Monetary unit | Current dollars or constant 1996 dollars |
| Geographic location | Each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia |
For the first four categories, annual data are provided dating back to the 1950s, which are amenable to time-series analysis of the economic history of R&D in the United States. Similarly, the geographic data, which cover all odd-numbered years from 1987 to 1997 and years 1998 to 2000, are amenable to both time series and cross-sectional analysis.
Table 8 contains the most recent NSF estimates of the number of scientists and engineers actively engaged in research and development activities in the United States.
Table 9 provides the research and development expenditures as well as administrative information for the 36 U.S. federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) in fiscal year 2001.
Table 10 supplies international R&D data pertaining to the major industrialized "group of seven" countries (the United States, Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Canada). These data include total R&D and nondefense R&D in constant 1996 dollars (by purchasing power parity) and as a percent of national gross domestic product.
Researchers may wish to examine the previous report, National Patterns of R&D Resources: 1998, and forthcoming National Patterns reports for more extensive and updated analyses of historical R&D trends and for more detailed breakdowns of R&D expenditure (such as by academic fields of study or sector of private industry). Explanations of methodological and technical aspects of how the R&D statistics have been obtained and compiled can be found in The Methodology Underlying the Measurement of R&D Expenditures: 2000 and the forthcoming methodology report for 2002. As explained in the technical notes of these reports, the data presented here on R&D expenditures derive from information obtained from four NSF/SRS surveys: Research and Development in Industry: 2000; Academic Research and Development Expenditures: Fiscal Year 2000; Federal Funds for Research and Development: Fiscal Years 2000, 2001, and 2002; and Survey of R&D Funding & Performance by Nonprofit Organizations: Fiscal Years 1996 and 1997.
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. The difference in the Federal R&D totals appears to be concentrated in the funding of industry by the Department of Defense. See National Patterns of R&D Resources: 1998 and forthcoming National Patterns reports for detailed discussion and documentation of these differences.
SRS has made several changes to its methodology for collecting and reporting national R&D data since the last National Patterns of R&D Resources update. Prior to fiscal year 2001, R&D data for all federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) were collected on three different surveys: the Survey of Academic R&D Expenditures (for university-administered FFRDCs), the Survey of R&D in Industry (for industry-administered FFRDCs), and the Survey of Federal Funds for R&D (for nonprofit-administered FFRDCs). Beginning in fiscal year 2001, data for all 36 FFRDCs were collected on the Survey of Academic R&D Expenditures.
Two adjustments have been made to the presentation of R&D performed at universities and colleges (not including FFRDCs). For 1998 and later years, adjustments have been made to university R&D figures to eliminate double counting of funds passed through from one academic institution to another. In fiscal year 1998, $479 million in passthrough funds were reported. In fiscal year 2002, $881 million in passthrough funds are estimated. The character of work estimation procedure for university and college R&D also was revised for 1998 and later years. Respondent corrections and the revised estimation procedure resulted in an increase of approximately 5 percentage points in the share of academic R&D characterized as basic research. These changes make data for 1998 and later years not directly comparable with data for 1997 and earlier years. A forthcoming methodology report will detail the specifics of these changes.
SRS is currently reviewing its methodology for estimating the character of work distribution of industrial R&D. For this data update, character of work estimates for industry performers and the United States total have been suppressed for the years 1998 through 2002. SRS will publish estimates of these suppressed data at the conclusion of this internal review.
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 D, containing annual historical data from 1953 to 2002 (where data for 2001 and 2002 are preliminary). Note, for instance, that, in table 1A, industrial performance that is funded by Federal support is designated as column [4] in table D. 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 D.
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).
| Table | Title |  |
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|---|---|---|---|
| 1A | National expenditures for R&D, by performing sector and source of funding: 1993-2002 | .xls | |
| 1B | National expenditures for R&D, from funding sectors to performing sectors: 1993-2002 | .xls | |
| 2A | National expenditures for basic research, by performing sector and source of funding: 1993-2002 | .xls | |
| 2B | National expenditures for basic research, from funding sectors to performing sectors: 1993-2002 | .xls | |
| 3A | National expenditures for applied research, by performing sector and source of funding: 1993-2002 | .xls | |
| 3B | National expenditures for applied research, from funding sectors to performing sectors: 1993-2002 | .xls | |
| 4A | National expenditures for development, by performing sector and source of funding: 1993-2002 | .xls | |
| 4B | National expenditures for development, from funding sectors to performing sectors: 1993-2002 | .xls | |
| 5 | Comparative measures of growth for gross domestic product and R&D (Federally-funded, nonfederal, and total): 1993-2002 | .xls | |
| 6 | Trends in Federal and non-federal R&D expenditures as a percentage of total R&D: 1953-2002 | .xls | |
| 7A | State distribution of expenditures for R&D, by performing sector and source of funding: 1999 | .xls | |
| 7B | State distribution of expenditures for R&D, by performing sector and source of funding: 2000 | .xls | |
| 7C | State distribution of expenditures for R&D, by performing sector and source of funding: 1987–2000 | .xls | |
| 8 | Scientists and engineers primarily engaged in research and development activities, by sector of employment: 1987-1999 | .xls | |
| 9 | Federally funded research and development centers' R&D Expenditures: Fiscal year 2001 | .xls | |
| 10 | International R&D expenditures in constant dollars and as a percentage of GDP: 1981-2001 | .xls | |
| D | Historical database for National Patterns: Columns 1-175 | .xls |
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