Research Funding and Research Output: A Bibliometric Contribution to the US Federal Research Roadmap

[Loet Leydesdorff]

Research Funding and Research Output: 
A Bibliometric Contribution to the US Federal Research Roadmap 

Loet Leydesdorff & Caroline Wagner 


Abstract. In response to the call for a science of science policy, we
discuss the contribution of indicators at the macro-level of nations from a
scientometric perspective. In addition to global trends such as the rise of
China, one can relate percentages of world share of publications to
government expenditure in academic research (HERD: Higher-Education
Expenditure for R&D). The marginal costs of improving one's share are
increasing over time. Countries differ considerably in terms of the
efficiency of turning (financial) input into bibliometrically measurable
output. A price per paper can be estimated. The percentages of GDP spent on
academic research in different nations are significantly correlated to
historical contingencies such as the percentage of researchers in the
population. The institutional dynamics make strategic objectives such as the
Lisbon objective of the EU - that is, spending 3% of GDP for R&D in 2010 -
unrealistic. 

Preprint version at http://www.leydesdorff.net/roadmap/index.htm 
<click here for pdf: http://www.leydesdorff.net/roadmap/roadmap.pdf> 

** Apologies for cross-postings 
________________________________

Amsterdam School of Communications Research (ASCoR)
Kloveniersburgwal 48, 1012 CX Amsterdam.
Tel. +31-20-525 6598; fax: +31-842239111
loet at leydesdorff.net 

SRI International, 1100 Wilson Boulevard, 
Arlington, VA, 22209, USA, and 
George Washington University; cswagner at gwu.edu.