RESEARCH OUTPUTS 

 AND APPLICATIONS 



Subsequent sections of this chapter present 

 the results of experimental studies aimed at 

 measuring a part of the output of research and a 

 portion of its applications. The studies repre- 

 sent, at best, small steps in these directions. 



Output of scientific research literature 



Information on the quantity and sectoral 

 origin of published research reports from several 

 fields of science was obtained from a study 

 conducted by the National Federation of 

 Abstracting and Indexing Services. ^^ The study, 



3- \niutiiori of Ihe Output of Scientific Research, National 

 Federation of Abstracting and Indexing Services, 1974 (A 

 study commissioned specifically for this report, and funded 

 largely by the Office of Science Information Service, 

 National Science Foundation). 



in brief, involved the selection of a set of 

 scientific and engineering journals which was 

 representative of the total literature in each 

 field. This was accomplished largely through the 

 guidance of the Federation's member services 

 and by advice from experts active in the fields. 

 On a sampling basis, individual reports in the 

 journals were examined to determine the first 

 author's institutional affiliation: academic, 

 government, industry, or other nonprofit 

 organization. The sample of reports was 

 restricted to those whose first authors were 

 affiliated with U.S. institutions. 



The data obtained from the study were used to 

 develop preliminary measures of the relative 

 growth of several fields of science and engineer- 

 ing in terms of their publication output, the roles 

 of the different sectors in the overall research 

 effort of each field, and the relationship between 

 the research output and financial inputs. 



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