U.S. Higher Education R&D Expenditure Survey

An annual census of U.S. colleges and universities that spent at least $150,000 in separately accounted for R&D. The Higher Education Research and Development Survey provides information on R&D expenditures by field of research, source of funds, types of research, expenses, and R&D personnel.

Use Cases

• Analyze R&D expenditures by source of funds to track federal government investment trends across institutions.
• Compare R&D expenditures by field of research to identify funding priorities in areas like medical school or clinical trial research.
• Examine headcount of R&D personnel relative to R&D expenditures by cost categories to assess research labor intensity.
• Map federally funded R&D expenditures by federal agency to understand departmental funding distributions.

Strengths

• Annual census methodology ensures comprehensive coverage of qualifying institutions.
• Data includes granular breakdowns such as expenditures by field, source of funds, and cost categories.
• Survey is the primary national source for U.S. higher education R&D expenditure information.

Limitations

• Specific row count, column count, and sample data are unavailable for assessment.
• Data may be limited to institutions meeting the $150,000 minimum expenditure threshold.
• The latest update noted is from March 2022, which may not reflect the most recent fiscal years.

Provenance

Source

National Science Foundation

Collection Method

Annual census survey of institutions.

Time Range

Annual data collection.

Freshness

Annual survey; last platform update noted as 2022-03-05.

Geography

United States