OECD Research and Development Statistics (RDS) provide a wide range of recent data on the resources devoted to R&D in all OECD countries and selected non-member economies.
RDS is based on the data reported to OECD and Eurostat in the framework of the joint OECD/Eurostat international data collection on resources devoted to R&D.
The OECD's R&D statistical series cover four main areas. R&D data are collected at national level through surveys and other sources following the recommendations of the OECD Frascati Manual, which is the internationally recognised standard in this area.
These tables cover all R&D carried out on a national territory in the year concerned using various breakdowns. R&D expenditure data are expressed in million national currency, million current PPP USD, and million constant USD (2015 prices and PPPs).
This set of tables covers resources devoted to R&D measured in labour terms, i.e. R&D personnel by sector of employment and various breakdowns. R&D personnel data are expressed in full time equivalents on R&D (FTE) and in head counts.
Datasets on R&D expenditure and personnel are also provided for R&D carried out in the business enterprise sector with detailed data by industry or size class. Additionally R&D in the higher education and private non-profit sectors are also available with detailed data by field of research and development or type of costs.
The R&D expenditure and personnel tables are based on surveys of the units carrying out the R&D and national estimates and provisional data have been included when available. More up-to-date information on government intentions or objectives when committing money to R&D can be derived from budgets. These data are shown in the government budget allocations for R&D (GBARD) table, which includes the breakdown of government R&D budgets by socio-economic objective (SEO).
In addition to these tables updated once a year, a subset of (discontinued) historical series are available:
These data were collected by the OECD following the publication of the OECD Frascati Manual in 1963 and its two subsequent revisions in 1970 and 1974. Due to discontinuities in the data, these historical series are presented separately from the OECD Research and Development Statistics publication. Researchers and the public in general with an interest in this subject are invited to investigate the features of these historical data. Independent efforts to attempt to construct consistent series and derive long-term historical indicators are encouraged for research purposes, subject to appropriate attribution and description of sources.
To complement these historical series, a few datasets reflecting the former data collection based on the 2002 version of the Frascati Manual are also available: