title: The United States of America and scientific research.
abstract: To gauge the current commitment to scientific research in the United States of America (US), we compared federal research funding (FRF) with the US gross domestic product (GDP) and industry research spending during the past six decades. In order to address the recent globalization of scientific research, we also focused on four key indicators of research activities: research and development (R&D) funding, total science and engineering doctoral degrees, patents, and scientific publications. We compared these indicators across three major population and economic regions: the US, the European Union (EU) and the People's Republic of China (China) over the past decade. We discovered a number of interesting trends with direct relevance for science policy. The level of US FRF has varied between 0.2% and 0.6% of the GDP during the last six decades. Since the 1960s, the US FRF contribution has fallen from twice that of industrial research funding to roughly equal. Also, in the last two decades, the portion of the US government R&D spending devoted to research has increased. Although well below the US and the EU in overall funding, the current growth rate for R&D funding in China greatly exceeds that of both. Finally, the EU currently produces more science and engineering doctoral graduates and scientific publications than the US in absolute terms, but not per capita. This study's aim is to facilitate a serious discussion of key questions by the research community and federal policy makers. In particular, our results raise two questions with respect to: a) the increasing globalization of science: "What role is the US playing now, and what role will it play in the future of international science?"; and b) the ability to produce beneficial innovations for society: "How will the US continue to foster its strengths?"
authors.affiliation: Bioinformatics & High-throughput Analysis Laboratory, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, United States of America.
authors.forename: Gregory J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Hather
authors.forename: Winston
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Haynes
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Higdon
authors.forename: Natali
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kolker
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Arzberger
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chain
authors.forename: Dawn
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Field
authors.forename: B Robert
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Franza
authors.forename: Biaoyang
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Folker
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: Vural
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ozdemir
authors.forename: Charles V
authors.initials: CV
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Gerald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: van Belle
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wooley
authors.forename: Eugene
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kolker
mesh_terms: D035082:Federal Government; D007221:Industry / Q000191:economics; D012106:Research / Q000191:economics / Q000193:education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012109:Research Support as Topic; D012586:Science / Q000191:economics / Q000193:education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States
references.citation: Nature. 2004 Jul 15;430(6997):311-6
references.pmid: 15254529
references.citation: OMICS. 2010 Aug;14(4):333-5
references.pmid: 20673064
references.citation: Science. 1999 Jul 30;285(5428):690-2
references.pmid: 10426983
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1996 Nov 12;93(23):12664-70
references.pmid: 8917477
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1996 Nov 12;93(23):12658-63
references.pmid: 8917476