Main Science and Technology Indicators

This biannual publication provides a set of indicators that reflect the level and structure of the efforts undertaken by OECD member countries and seven non-member economies (Argentina, People's Republic of China, Romania, Russian Federation, Singapore, South Africa, Chinese Taipei) in the field of science and technology. These data include final or provisional results as well as forecasts established by government authorities. The indicators cover the resources devoted to research and development, patent families, technology balance of payments and international trade in R&D-intensive industries. Also presented are the underlying economic series used to calculate these indicators.
Indicators on R&D expenditures, budgets and personnel are derived from the OECD's Research and Development Statistics (RDS) database, which is based on the data reported to OECD and Eurostat in the framework of a co-ordinated collection.
The sources for the other indicators include the OECD databases on Activities of Multinational Enterprises (AMNE), on Bilateral Trade in Goods by Industry and End-use Category database (BTDIxE), on Patents and on Technological Balance of Payments (TBP).
The R&D data used in this publication have been collected and presented in line with the standard OECD methodology for R&D statistics as laid out in the OECD "Frascati Manual". The 2002 edition of the manual has now been superseded by the 2015 edition. The revised guidelines and definitions are in the course of being implemented and are not expected to change the main indicators significantly although some terminology changes will occur. This edition of MSTI has been compiled in accordance with the 2002 Frascati Manual; these changes will be made in a coming edition as R&D surveys move to the new standard.

2018 values are estimated value.