UK continues strong research performance despite lower capacity and investment
A report examining the performance of the UK's research base depicts a trend of constant improvement. It finds that the UK's research performance is more consistent than that of competitors, and that the UK manages to a higher output with less investment than other countries. The report, prepared by the UK's Office of Science and Innovation (OSI), compares indicators in six areas for the UK and 25 countries. Together, these countries produce around five-sixths of the world's research publications catalogued by Thomson Scientific, and a higher proportion of the most influential outputs. 'Britain's 21st century knowledge economy depends on science and innovation. We are in a good position - we have excellent science and strong investment,' said Malcolm Wicks, UK Science and Innovation Minister. 'However, there's no room for complacency, with increasing competition from China. The UK is continuing to show continuous improvement despite fierce competition and we must make sure it stays that way,' he added. The comparator group against which the UK is judged comprises the full G8 (the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia), a selection of larger countries from different continents, and a spread of smaller nations with active and rapidly growing research bases. They are: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Iran, Israel, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea and Taiwan. The UK's share of this group's research and development (R&D) expenditure amounts to only 4%, resting at 1.82% of GDP. This means that the UK is 18th out of 21 of the comparator nations for which data are available (the average is around 2.2% of GDP). Publicly funded research has increased in real terms over the past decade, but the increase is still less than the average. In spite of low expenditure, output is good. The UK's share of PHD awards and publications remains at around 9% in the face of increasing competition from countries such as China. The UK's share of world journal article publications is ranked second, behind the US. The UK is also second only to the US in its share of world citations. At 12% the UK remains well ahead of most competitors in the comparator group. Germany has improved slightly on last year, while China and several smaller nations are increasing their global share rapidly. In terms of productivity (both finance and labour) the UK also performs well. It is perhaps therefore all the more surprising that the UK's researcher workforce capacity is significantly lower than average. Only 0.3% of the UK population as a whole, and only 0.6% of the workforce, could be classified as a researcher using the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) definition. The UK ranks 16th within the comparator group, and this has changed little over the past few years. The report suggests that the restructuring of economies can be used to explain the UK's lower ranking here: 'The UK's rank on this measure is at odds with its rank on other indicators. Historical models of 'researchers' may not reflect current employment and work patterns. The definition of researchers may need to be revised to take account of the shifting structure of knowledge-based economies.'
Countries
United Kingdom