A Proposed Cost-of-Research Index

Abstract

The objective of the cost-of-research index proposed in this paper is to provide a measure of the relative cost of the technical man-years supported by the R & D funds expended yearly in the U. S., as an indicator of the relative effort-in contrast to dollars-that has been put forth in U. S. R & D. The technical-man-year cost used in this paper is derived by dividing the total annual cost of each particular R & D organization participating in this study by the number of scientific and technical personnel working in the organization. This index is based on 17 individual research organizations, ranging from the most sophisticated industry and foundation R & D enterprises to relatively small private and Government laboratories and R & D divisions.