BOOK: Principales Indicadores de Ciencia y Technologia

[Gretchen Whitney]

RICYT (Iberoamerican Network on Science and Technology Indicators).
Principales Indicadores de Ciencia y Technologia (Science and Technology
Indicators), Iberoamericanos / Interamericanos, 1990-1997. Buenos Aires,
June 1999. 281 p. + c.100 p. booklet in English. ISSN 0329-4838. e contact
ricyt at ricyt.edu.ar.  <URL:http://www.unq.edu.ar/ricyt/>

This is a very useful compilation of data from the Iberoamerican region.
It covers 26 countries in the classification, and presents data on 32
categories of variables.  An overview of the region is also offered.  New
this year are bibliometric indicators, discussing contributions to various
databases such as SciSearch, CAB, PASCAL, COMPENDEX, MEDLINE, INSPEC,
BIOSIS, and Chem Abs.

Each chapter covers a single country, and presents the
governmental and non-governmental organizations and structures supporting
science and technology, and the infrastructure offering support for
research and development, with contacts for further information.

Indicators include:  Context Indicators (population, economically active
population, GDP); Economic Resources for S&T; Expenditures on S&T; Per
Capita Expenditures; Per Researcher expenditures; Human Resources
(researchers; in relation to labor force; by gender; university degrees
granted); Products of S&T (patent applications; publications in
multidisciplinary databases; publications in thematic databases).
The tables also compute some interesting comparative data:  coefficient of
invention, defined as patent applications per 100,000 population; and
publications in relation to expenditures on S&T; and rates of dependency
and independency regarding patents.

The Appendix presents comparative data by indicator, with countries
providing the appropriate information.

The booklet accompanying the main work explains the data collected in
English, and provides summary tables.

One of the major accomplishments of the work is the extensive effort by
the RICYT in normalizing data reported and the encouragement of consistent
reporting by participating countries - efforts sorely needed worldwide in
even the most basic data collection practices.

I invite participants in this list from RICYT to discuss their efforts in
this regard.

Their website offers a detailed table of contents, in Spanish.

Very attractive publication, nicely laid out and easy to work with.


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Gretchen Whitney, PhD                                     tel 423.974.7919
School of Information Sciences                            fax 423.974.4967
University of Tennessee, Knoxville TN 37996 USA           gwhitney at utk.edu
http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/
jESSE:http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/jesse.html
SIGMETRICS:http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/sigmetrics.html
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