Invest mem in A^riciillural Research and Extension: A Survev 29 



The Productivity of the Research System 



The relationship between research and productivity is of a two- 

 stage nature: scientific inputs first produce a set of outputs, 

 knowledge in various areas, which we measure in terms of 

 publications. In the second stage, this knowledge is incorporated 

 in the agricultural production process and affects agricultural pro- 

 ductivity. 



The overall issue of the productivity of research is the topic of 

 later chapters. The present analysis is more limited in scope and 

 concentrates on the first stage; namely, on the productivity of the 

 research system in terms of publications. Its major finding is that 

 publications can be systematically related to scientific input data. 



Our procedure is to specify a general ''knowledge production 

 function." Knowledge is measured by the number of publications 

 in the agricultural sciences (defined here as the applied sciences). 

 The factors determining knowledge production in a particular 

 country are scientific technical manpower, laboratory or field 

 equipment, and other scientific knowledge. Specifically; 



Pj=f{S.,Ej,p^^.,G.,N.), (2.1) 



where 



^/ = E 



^ Total number of publications in agri- 



Pij cultural sciences (not including plant 

 physiology) in country./ 



/=l 



and 



P-j Publications in sector / in country ./ 

 (the sectors are the 14 sectors listed on 

 pp. 2-7) 



p . . Publications in plant physiology 



S. Scientific man-year in agricultural 

 research 



E. Expenditure on agricultural research 



G. GNP per capita 



yV. Number of newspapers per 10,000 



' people. 



