Research and Development Expenditures at Colleges and Universities
- In fiscal year (FY) 2019, inflation-adjusted expenditures for academic humanities R&D (excluding research in the discipline of communication) reached $540.9 million, the highest level observed over the 2007–2019 time period (2007 is the first year for which reliable data on total expenditures are available; Indicator IV-35a).1 Expenditures in 2019 were up 5% from the previous year and up 84% from 2007.2
- Expenditures for academic humanities R&D were dwarfed by those for research in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and medicine; Indicator IV-35b). At the extreme, expenditures for health sciences research in 2019 were over 50 times greater than funding for research in the humanities. Further, 2019 spending for humanities research equaled 0.7% of the amount dedicated to STEM R&D (when all scientific fields—including agricultural sciences and others not depicted in the graph—are considered).
- The percentage growth in college and university spending for humanities research from 2007 to 2019 (84%) was substantially greater than that in any of the broad science fields examined here, such as the biological sciences (which experienced an increase of 37%) or engineering (46%). Humanities R&D increased by 51% over the period beginning in 2011 (the first year in which humanities expenditures were more fully captured by the survey on which this indicator is based; please see “About the Data” for details), compared to 11% in the combined STEM fields. Comparisons between the humanities and STEM fields should be made with caution, however, given the former’s much smaller 2007 and 2011 baseline values.
- The percentage growth in spending for academic humanities R&D over the 2007–2019 period was substantially less than that for some other non-STEM fields, such as business/management (160%) and law (181%), but greater than that seen in education (38%).
- Federal support constituted 9% of all academic humanities R&D expenditures in 2019 (Indicator IV-35c), which was similar to business and law but markedly smaller than the shares in education and each of the STEM fields (33%–67%).
- From 2007 to 2019, every field examined here experienced a contraction in the share of federally funded R&D expenditures, but the phenomenon was more pronounced in the humanities than in STEM fields. Federal government funds constituted 25% of all humanities R&D expenditures in 2007. The share shrank in most of the subsequent years, reducing the federally funded share of humanities R&D by more than half over the time period.
- In comparison to other fields, academic humanities R&D in 2019 was much more likely to be funded either by educational institutions themselves or by not-for-profit entities (Indicator IV-35d). While 70% of humanities R&D funding came from the institutions themselves, in every STEM field examined here no more than 35% of R&D was funded this way.
Endnotes
- 1The system the National Science Foundation (the collector of the data from which the R&D estimates presented here are derived) uses to classify academic disciplines does not permit the separation of the more professionally oriented aspects of the communication discipline (e.g., broadcasting) from those that the Humanities Indicators treats as part of the humanities field (e.g., rhetoric and media studies). To avoid inflated estimates of humanities R&D expenditures, the communication discipline has been excluded from the humanities field for the purposes of this analysis.
- 2For fiscal year 2010, the National Science Foundation began estimating for nonresponse on the non-STEM items included in the survey used to collect the data underlying this indicator. Additionally, the eligibility criteria for the survey changed significantly from FY 2010 to FY 2011. As a result, the number of universities identified by the National Science Foundation as eligible to participate in the survey increased from 742 in 2010 to 912 in 2011 (for more information about this significant shift, see the November 2012 National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics Info Brief, NSF 13-305). Some of the apparent growth in humanities R&D expenditures is attributable to these changes.
* For fiscal year (FY) 2010, the National Science Foundation began estimating for nonresponse on the non–science and engineering items included in the survey used to collect the data underlying this indicator. Additionally, the eligibility criteria for the survey changed significantly from FY 2010 to FY 2011. Some of the growth in humanities research and development funding indicated by the graph is attributable to these changes. See “About the Data” for details and for an explanation of why the discipline of communication had to be excluded for the purposes of this analysis.
Source: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, “Higher Education Research and Development: Fiscal Year 2019 (Data Tables),” https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf21314#data-tables, accessed 6/14/2021. The expenditure amounts were adjusted for inflation by the Indicators using the Gross Domestic Product Implicit Price Deflators produced by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis. Data analyzed and presented by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Humanities Indicators (http://www.humanitiesindicators.org/).
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has been surveying the nation’s colleges and universities about their expenditures for science and engineering research and development (R&D) since the early 1970s. As part of the fiscal year (FY) 2003 survey, NSF requested, for the first time, information on academic R&D in fields other than the sciences and engineering, including the humanities. The expenditures considered in the NSF survey are for both “sponsored research,” which is subsidized by outside entities (e.g., federal government agencies and private foundations), and “university research,” which is separately budgeted under an internal application of institutional funds (see the NSF survey questionnaire). Because of relatively low rates of response to the survey’s new humanities-related items for FY 2003 and FY 2004, as well as changes in the definition of academic fields in subsequent years, the data reported here are for fiscal years 2007 and beyond.
Prior to FY 2010, NSF did not attempt to estimate for nonresponse on the non-STEM research and development expenditure items included in the survey. Additionally, through FY 2010, the NSF R&D expenditure totals for the non-STEM fields were based on the spending of only those institutions that also performed science and engineering R&D. The expenditures of institutions that did not engage in science and engineering R&D but that may have conducted substantial amounts of research in humanities disciplines were not included. In view of these limitations, the humanities R&D expenditure estimates for FY 2007–2010 are particularly conservative.
Beginning in FY 2011, NSF began including in its humanities R&D totals the expenditures of institutions that had spent at least $150,000 on R&D, irrespective of the fields in which such research was conducted. As a result, the number of universities identified by NSF as eligible to participate in the survey increased from 742 in FY 2010 to 912 in FY 2011. Some of the apparent growth in humanities R&D from FY 2010 to FY 2011 is attributable to this change in the eligibility criteria for the survey. For more information about this significant change, see the November 2012 National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics Info Brief, NSF 13-305.
The system NSF uses to classify academic disciplines does not permit the separation of the more professionally oriented aspects of the communication discipline (e.g., broadcasting) from those that the Humanities Indicators treats as part of the humanities field (e.g., rhetoric and media studies). To avoid inflated estimates of humanities R&D expenditures, communication has been excluded from the humanities field for the purposes of this analysis.
These data also underestimate the size of the national investment in college- and university-based humanities research because they do not capture two key forms of financial support for humanities faculty wishing to pursue research: (1) university-supported leave from teaching (e.g., sabbaticals); and (2) fellowship monies used by faculty to cover living expenses (when leave from teaching is without pay or at partial pay) and research-related costs (e.g., source materials and travel). Additionally, some universities that responded to the academic R&D survey reported only their science and engineering expenditures. For these reasons, the amounts reported here should be treated as lower-bound estimates of total investment in academic humanities research.
* For fiscal year (FY) 2010, the National Science Foundation began estimating for nonresponse on the non-STEM items included in the survey used to collect the data underlying this indicator. Additionally, the eligibility criteria for the survey changed significantly from FY 2010 to FY 2011. Some of the growth in humanities research and development—and research in other non-STEM fields—is attributable to these changes. See “About the Data” for details and for an explanation of why the discipline of communication had to be excluded from the humanities field for the purposes of this analysis.
** Business management and business administration; communication and communication technologies; education; law; social work; and visual and performing arts.
Source: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, “Higher Education Research and Development: Fiscal Year 2019 (Data Tables),” https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf21314#data-tables, accessed 6/14/2021. The expenditure amounts were adjusted for inflation by the Indicators using the Gross Domestic Product Implicit Price Deflators produced by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis. Data analyzed and presented by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Humanities Indicators (http://www.humanitiesindicators.org/).
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has been surveying the nation’s colleges and universities about their expenditures for science and engineering research and development (R&D) since the early 1970s. As part of the fiscal year (FY) 2003 survey, NSF requested, for the first time, information on academic R&D in fields other than the sciences and engineering, including the humanities. The expenditures considered in the NSF survey are for both “sponsored research,” which is subsidized by outside entities (e.g., federal government agencies and private foundations), and “university research,” which is separately budgeted under an internal application of institutional funds (see the NSF survey questionnaire). Because of relatively low rates of response to the survey’s new humanities-related items for FY 2003 and FY 2004, as well as changes in the definition of academic fields in subsequent years, the data reported here are for fiscal years 2007 and beyond.
Prior to FY 2010, NSF did not attempt to estimate for nonresponse on the non-STEM research and development expenditure items included in the survey. Additionally, through FY 2010, the NSF R&D expenditure totals for the non-STEM fields were based on the spending of only those institutions that also performed science and engineering R&D. The expenditures of institutions that did not engage in science and engineering R&D but that may have conducted substantial amounts of research in humanities disciplines were not included. In view of these limitations, the humanities R&D expenditure estimates for FY 2007–2010 are particularly conservative.
Beginning in FY 2011, NSF began including in its humanities R&D totals the expenditures of institutions that had spent at least $150,000 on R&D, irrespective of the fields in which such research was conducted. As a result, the number of universities identified by NSF as eligible to participate in the survey increased from 742 in FY 2010 to 912 in FY 2011. Some of the apparent growth in humanities R&D from FY 2010 to FY 2011 is attributable to this change in the eligibility criteria for the survey. For more information about this significant change, see the November 2012 National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics Info Brief, NSF 13-305.
The system NSF uses to classify academic disciplines does not permit the separation of the more professionally oriented aspects of the communication discipline (e.g., broadcasting) from those that the Humanities Indicators treats as part of the humanities field (e.g., rhetoric and media studies). To avoid inflated estimates of humanities R&D expenditures, communication has been excluded from the humanities field for the purposes of this analysis.
These data also underestimate the size of the national investment in college- and university-based humanities research because they do not capture two key forms of financial support for humanities faculty wishing to pursue research: (1) university-supported leave from teaching (e.g., sabbaticals); and (2) fellowship monies used by faculty to cover living expenses (when leave from teaching is without pay or at partial pay) and research-related costs (e.g., source materials and travel). Additionally, some universities that responded to the academic R&D survey reported only their science and engineering expenditures. For these reasons, the amounts reported here should be treated as lower-bound estimates of total investment in academic humanities research.
* See “About the Data” for an explanation of why the discipline of communication had to be excluded from the humanities field for the purposes of this analysis.
** Business management and business administration; communication and communication technologies; education; law; social work; and visual and performing arts.
Source: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, “Higher Education Research and Development: Fiscal Year 2019 (Data Tables),” https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf21314#data-tables, accessed 6/14/2021. Data analyzed and presented by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Humanities Indicators (http://www.humanitiesindicators.org/).
The system NSF (the collector of the data from which the R&D estimates presented here are derived) uses to classify academic disciplines does not permit the separation of the more professionally oriented aspects of the communication discipline (e.g., broadcasting) from those that the Humanities Indicators treats as part of the humanities field (e.g., rhetoric and media studies). To avoid inflated estimates of humanities R&D expenditures, communication has been excluded from the humanities field for the purposes of this analysis.
The expenditures considered in the NSF survey are for both “sponsored research,” which is subsidized by outside entities (e.g., federal government agencies and private foundations), and “university research,” which is separately budgeted under an internal application of institutional funds (see the NSF survey questionnaire).
IV-35d: Sources of Funding for Academic Research and Development in the Humanities and Other Selected Fields, Fiscal Year 2019
* See “About the Data” for an explanation of why the discipline of communication had to be excluded from the humanities field for the purposes of this analysis.
** Business management and business administration; communication and communication technologies; education; law; social work; and visual and performing arts.
Source: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, “Higher Education Research and Development: Fiscal Year 2019 (Data Tables),” https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf21314#data-tables, accessed 6/14/2021. Data analyzed and presented by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Humanities Indicators (http://www.humanitiesindicators.org/).
The system NSF (the collector of the data from which the R&D estimates presented here are derived) uses to classify academic disciplines does not permit the separation of the more professionally oriented aspects of the communication discipline (e.g., broadcasting) from those that the Humanities Indicators treats as part of the humanities field (e.g., rhetoric and media studies). To avoid inflated estimates of humanities R&D expenditures, communication has been excluded from the humanities field for the purposes of this analysis.
The expenditures considered in the NSF survey are for both “sponsored research,” which is subsidized by outside entities (e.g., federal government agencies and private foundations), and “university research,” which is separately budgeted under an internal application of institutional funds (see the NSF survey questionnaire).
