Chapter 5: Science & Engineering Indicators 93

Instrumentation
Current fund expenditures for academic research instrumentation grew steadily between 1982 and 1989 before beginning to decline in 1990 and again in 1991 (constant dollars.) (Click here for footnote 16.) (See appendix table 5-13.) R& D equipment expenditures grew by 3.9 percent between 1988 and 1989, and then declined by 1 percent between 1989 and 1990, and by 3 percent between 1990 and 1991. About 59 to 64 percent of these expenditures were covered by the Federal Government during the 1980s, but the government's share fell to about 59 percent in both 1990 and 1991. This percentage varied among individual fields, however, with the social sciences receiving only about one-third of their research equipment funds from the Federal Government, and the physical and computer sciences over 70 percent. In the period between 1982 and 1991, federal support did not grow as quickly as did nonfederal. Annual growth in federal support averaged 5.2 percent, while nonfederal support grew 7.8 percent (in constant dollars) during this period.

By field, current fund expenditures for instruments for engineering, computer sciences, mathematical sciences, environmental sciences, and physical sciences increased at average annual rates, in constant 1987 dollars, of between 6 and 10 percent since 1982. Funds for research equipment for the social sciences and psychology grew at an average annual rate of less than 4 percent since 1982. (See figure 5-7.)

From 1981 through 1991, annual current fund research equipment expenditures fluctuated between 6 and 7 percent of total R& D expenditures, with an upward trend in this proportion between 1983 and 1986, and a downward trend since 1986. Equipment purchases as a percentage of R& D expenditures were consistently higher than average in the computer sciences, physical sciences, and engineering; they were consistently lower in the mathematical sciences, social sciences, life sciences, and psychology.

Footnote 16:
Data used here are limited to current funds expenditures for research instrumentation and do not include funds for instructional equipment. Current funds--as opposed to capital funds--are those in the yearly operating budget for ongoing activities. Generally, academic institutions keep separate accounts for current and capital funds.

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