Introducing Indicators Explorer: custom science and engineering data on demand
The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) within the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has released the Indicators Explorer, a new data visualization tool that enables anyone to quickly and easily analyze high-quality data to discover trends in science and engineering.
The Indicators Explorer allows users to dive into data on topics spanning the breadth of the science and engineering ecosystem, including:
- Elementary and secondary STEM education
- Higher education in science and engineering
- Invention and innovation
- Knowledge- and technology-intensive industries
- Research and development
- Research publications
- STEM workforce
Depending on the indicator selected, the tool can generate a variety of chart types, including line graphs, bar and column graphs, U.S. and world maps, treemap and Sankey diagrams. Tables and figures can be easily customized and filtered to spotlight variables of interest, then easily cited, shared, and downloaded.
With the Indicators Explorer, users can shed light on questions like:
- How has the unemployment rate changed over time for STEM workers compared with non-STEM workers?
- How does spending on basic research compare in the federal and business sectors?
- How has the number of U.S. patents in chemistry awarded annually changed over time?
- Which states award the highest share of their bachelor’s degrees in science and engineering fields?
- How do the shares of research articles published by authors in China, the European Union, India, South Korea, and the United States vary by field?
The tool’s 28 indicators are drawn from reliable and objective sources that meet NCSES statistical standards, including NCSES’s own surveys, other federal statistical agencies, federal administrative data, international organizations and governments, and private data sources. Each dataset offers insight into a particular facet of the science and engineering enterprise. The Indicators Explorer will be updated periodically with new indicators and data.
The Indicators Explorer complements Science and Engineering Indicators, the congressionally mandated report to the president and Congress on the state of the U.S. science and engineering enterprise. The tool introduces new ways to interact with key data sources, preserves access to these data while supporting more streamlined reports, and enables more frequent data updates outside the biennial cycle.