Back to Data Tables
Excel icon Download to excel

Table 9. Higher education R&D expenditures, by R&D field: FYs 2008–17

(Dollars in thousands)

Field 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
All R&D fieldsa 54,113,750 57,288,415 61,286,610 65,274,393 65,729,007 67,013,138 67,196,537 68,550,653 71,795,275 75,174,941
Science 43,914,300 46,214,473 49,061,924 51,955,472 51,914,870 52,620,458 52,787,322 53,869,197 56,266,661 58,932,076
Computer and information sciences 1,471,454 1,600,447 1,638,047 1,742,486 1,822,321 2,068,499 1,928,474 1,962,767 2,078,154 2,191,762
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 2,798,750 2,923,404 2,991,760 3,153,182 3,173,011 3,195,423 3,227,956 3,247,416 3,085,624 3,154,446
Atmospheric science and meteorology 423,055 416,826 429,354 481,275 476,729 493,460 501,639 573,932 626,457 623,871
Geological and earth sciences 950,631 1,019,429 1,083,993 1,142,644 1,168,945 1,163,744 1,159,333 1,113,619 1,000,064 1,086,382
Ocean sciences and marine sciences 1,051,136 1,077,634 1,021,856 1,049,629 1,025,472 1,051,418 1,071,419 1,050,173 1,097,963 1,101,625
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences, nec 373,928 409,515 456,557 479,634 501,865 486,801 495,565 509,692 361,140 342,568
Life sciences 31,192,916 32,778,944 34,984,282 37,337,522 37,200,171 37,565,222 37,955,182 38,781,790 40,868,307 43,095,195
Agricultural sciences 2,995,518 3,055,512 3,011,149 3,116,840 3,300,098 3,352,448 3,390,039 3,480,029 3,294,989 3,282,797
Biological and biomedical sciences 9,760,099 10,146,059 10,946,424 11,855,468 11,611,632 11,681,264 11,704,653 11,704,519 13,044,385 13,708,543
Health sciences 17,254,161 18,229,453 19,268,159 20,398,377 20,330,413 20,454,258 20,710,804 21,309,761 22,374,973 23,983,549
Natural resources and conservationb na na na na na na na na 690,376 686,729
Life sciences, nec 1,183,138 1,347,920 1,758,550 1,966,837 1,958,028 2,077,252 2,149,686 2,287,481 1,463,584 1,433,577
Mathematics and statistics 619,854 546,915 592,184 640,460 674,461 670,801 657,927 641,083 681,562 701,085
Physical sciences 3,931,833 4,282,795 4,621,772 4,768,816 4,710,125 4,646,754 4,616,378 4,659,223 4,888,752 5,049,175
Astronomy and astrophysics 539,112 578,406 573,229 583,847 706,544 558,781 567,101 626,641 622,101 648,744
Chemistry 1,486,721 1,582,562 1,748,465 1,783,604 1,748,904 1,703,881 1,724,061 1,757,380 1,774,776 1,792,738
Materials scienceb na na na na na na na na 173,314 227,682
Physics 1,606,997 1,869,890 1,998,732 2,108,340 1,985,954 2,097,094 2,056,349 2,047,759 2,118,434 2,154,152
Physical sciences, nec 299,003 251,937 301,346 293,025 268,723 286,998 268,867 227,443 200,127 225,859
Psychology 925,069 972,319 1,077,685 1,159,199 1,179,323 1,128,269 1,141,662 1,181,798 1,219,432 1,242,853
Social sciences 1,949,741 2,080,953 1,999,971 2,063,036 2,053,656 2,173,107 2,215,693 2,317,012 2,368,285 2,550,173
Anthropologyb na na na na na na na na 96,638 111,199
Economics 398,730 379,720 352,905 387,050 383,405 408,153 428,544 456,561 399,250 434,743
Political science and government 339,294 368,887 374,913 370,704 390,074 427,522 426,781 459,416 385,305 404,512
Sociology, demography, and population studies 403,226 408,444 419,918 433,498 461,011 482,284 505,026 524,752 503,931 551,645
Social sciences, nec 808,491 923,902 852,235 871,784 819,166 855,148 855,342 876,283 983,161 1,048,074
Sciences, nec 1,024,683 1,028,696 1,156,223 1,090,771 1,101,802 1,172,383 1,044,050 1,078,108 1,076,545 947,387
Engineering 7,957,504 8,648,525 9,325,722 10,032,590 10,284,111 10,733,918 10,976,774 11,070,712 11,381,183 11,897,397
Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 537,251 613,828 635,234 667,757 662,444 689,553 662,456 734,173 883,194 994,422
Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 601,908 648,099 745,277 817,389 871,917 884,421 951,157 1,003,932 1,084,749 1,220,451
Chemical engineering 655,603 695,842 821,163 913,905 903,613 910,413 907,697 915,046 885,107 933,776
Civil engineering 924,620 980,451 1,106,759 1,208,592 1,232,944 1,296,972 1,256,881 1,287,299 1,330,778 1,302,098
Electrical, electronic, and communications engineering 1,704,953 1,844,482 2,050,292 2,206,894 2,311,665 2,408,824 2,479,789 2,492,434 2,517,183 2,727,498
Industrial and manufacturing engineeringb na na na na na na na na 238,780 344,224
Mechanical engineering 1,162,428 1,243,910 1,458,382 1,556,892 1,550,151 1,647,643 1,504,293 1,514,673 1,435,690 1,531,092
Metallurgical and materials engineering 646,523 688,225 703,332 738,892 757,967 812,240 1,203,073 1,101,946 744,333 736,717
Engineering, nec 1,724,218 1,933,688 1,805,283 1,922,269 1,993,410 2,083,852 2,011,428 2,021,209 2,261,369 2,107,119
Non-S&Ea 2,241,946 2,425,417 2,898,964 3,286,331 3,530,026 3,658,762 3,432,441 3,610,744 4,147,431 4,345,468
Business management and business administration 329,931 343,916 370,005 400,371 443,079 476,091 482,937 569,774 647,858 731,868
Communication and communications technologies 89,203 107,484 130,393 153,741 159,920 148,900 166,910 168,525 167,872 205,561
Education 868,830 915,976 993,574 1,120,759 1,233,437 1,221,444 1,244,254 1,290,750 1,337,779 1,380,221
Humanities 246,713 255,289 260,338 313,022 339,633 386,759 402,244 430,204 445,995 498,700
Law 90,907 107,966 98,105 124,776 131,514 173,479 149,254 174,703 184,588 223,829
Social work 123,984 138,283 177,329 194,665 199,046 212,331 226,094 214,223 211,920 236,069
Visual and performing arts 59,285 72,867 68,709 77,353 84,596 87,765 95,822 100,656 138,608 130,807
Non-S&E, nec 432,965 483,636 800,511 901,644 938,801 951,993 664,926 661,909 1,012,811 938,413
na = not applicable; separate data for natural resources and conservation, materials science, anthropology, and industrial and manufacturing engineering were not collected prior to FY 2016.
nec = not elsewhere classified; S&E = science and engineering.
a Prior to FY 2010, some institution totals for all fields of R&D expenditures may be lower-bound estimates because the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics did not attempt to estimate for nonresponse on non-S&E R&D expenditures item prior to FY 2010.
b Prior to FY 2016, expenditures for natural resources and conservation, materials science, anthropology, and industrial and manufacturing engineering were not collected separately. See the FY 2016 Technical Notes, Appendix A (https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/herd/2016) for information detailing where these fields were previously reported.
NOTES: FY 2016 R&D expenditure amounts in various fields may show increases or decreases from amounts reported in FY 2015 because of the reclassification of disciplines. See the FY 2016 Technical Notes, Appendix A (https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/herd/2016) for specific details about discipline changes. Non-S&E detailed field data may not sum to total non-S&E R&D expenditures because some institutions reporting non-S&E R&D expenditures did not break out total expenditures by non-S&E fields.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Higher Education Research and Development Survey.