International Position 

 of U.S. Science and Technology 



This chapter compares the position and performance of science and technology in the United 

 States with that of other major R&D-performing nations, through a variety of indicators. These 

 include comparative indices of the level of R&D, in terms of expenditures for such activity and the 

 number of scientists and engineers involved; results of R&D, as measured by the output of scientific 

 reports and patents for new products and processes; and national performance in areas dependent upon 

 science and technology, such as technical knowledge, productivity, and international trade. 



International comparisons are confined to general trends and to relative rather than absolute 

 indicators, because of the paucity and limited quality of available information. This applies with 

 particular force to comparisons involving the U.S.S.R. where definitions of R&D and scientific 

 personnel often differ from those of other countries. 



Specific indicators must be interpreted with considerable caution. Indices of the level of R&D can 

 be misleading because the costs of such activities, and differences in the productivity and functions of 

 scientists and engineers, cannot yet be equated for the various countries. The output indices of 

 scientific reports and patents reflect only a small part of the total output of science and technology, 

 whereas the last group of indicators — those dealing with technical knowledge, productivity, and 

 international trade — include the effects of many factors, science and technology being only one of 

 them. 



INDICATOR HIGHLIGHTS 



The proportion of the gross national product 

 (GNP) spent for research and development 

 (R&D) between 1963-71 declined in the 

 United States, France, and the United King- 

 dom but increased in the Union of Soviet 

 Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.), Japan, and 

 West Germany. By 1971, U.S. expenditures 

 for R&D were 2.6 percent of GNP, as 

 compared with an estimated 3.0 percent for 

 the U.S.S.R., approximately 2.0 percent for 

 the United Kingdom and West Germany, and 

 1.8 percent for both Japan and France. 



The number of scientists and engineeers 

 engaged in R&D per 10,000 population de- 

 clined in the United States after 1969 but 

 continued to increase in the U.S.S.R., Japan, 

 West Germany, and France, with the result 

 that by 1971 the number per 10,000 popula- 

 tion for the U.S.S.R. was 37 as compared 

 with 25 for the United States and Japan, 15 

 for West Germany, and 12 for France. 



All countries included in the comparisons 

 significantly reduced the proportion of their 

 government R&D expenditures for national 



defense between 1961 and 1969, with such 

 expenditures in the United States dropping 

 from 65 to 49 percent of total government 

 R&D spending. Increases in the United 

 States and most other countries occurred in 

 the areas of space, community services, and 

 economic development. 



In seven of eight scientific areas studied,^ the 

 United States produces a larger share of the 

 world's scientific and technical literature 

 than any of the other major developed coun- 

 tries; the U.S. share remained essentially un- 

 changed between 1965-71. 



Literature produced by the United States is 

 more frequently cited than that produced by 

 other countries in all the scientific areas 

 studied, with the exception of systematic 

 biology and mathematics where the United 

 Kingdom stands first. 



1 The areas were physics and geophysics; chemistry and 

 metallurgy; molecular biology; systematic biology; mathe- 

 matics; engineering; psychology; and economics. 



