People often look to technology-based advancement as the key to achieving and maintaining economic competitiveness. This belief often resonates through national policy at the highest levels. Does investing in high technology really provide a competitive advantage? Since 1986, researchers at...

How can national capabilities to develop emerging technologies be measured? We use INSPEC and EI Compendex class codes to examine 33 countries' research and development activity. We select candidate emerging technologies based on the Rand Corporation's categories. We screen these to tally those...

United States federal laboratories are facing substantial changes in their political, technical, and budgetary environments. Industrial partnering is widely seen as an important strategy for managing these changes and seeking new roles. This study examines new and interesting approaches to...

Methods used historically in the USA to assess the outcomes of research programs are summarized and key milestones noted in the context of Government Performance and Results Act requirements. Good theory is needed if performance indicators are to reflect accurately the unique features of...

Concern about nanotechnology risks has engendered an upsurge of research on environmental, health and safety issues (Nano-EHS). This paper explores the extent to which such research is impacting the field. Citations to a carefully vetted set of Nano-EHS articles are analyzed along several...

We present means to enable profiling to situate research activities (such as proposals or publications) within research domains, identify cognitive and social networks, and track knowledge transfers. Here we profile a set of 123 National Science Foundation educational research awards. We...

We analyze samples of EPA research projects concerning endocrine disruptors and ecosystem indicators. Prior collaboration among researchers predicts effective teaming well. The projects are quite productive in terms of resulting publications and citations. We assess project-related publication...

This article presents results to date produced by a team charged with evaluating the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative, a 15-year US$ 40 million program to facilitate interdisciplinary research in the United States. The team has developed and tested promising quantitative measures of...

To what extent have Iraqi engineering research emphases changed over the past 15 years or so? Exploration of Iraqi publication patterns shows a dramatic rise in activity through 1990, followed by a precipitous decline through early 2003. Iraqi engineering research emphases include chemistry and...