Scientific Productivity

Scientific research in the service of economic and social development is supported by most governments and many kinds of organizations, but decisions about the determination of priorities and the allocation of resources are always difficult. This volume, first published in 1979, contains a comprehensive and meticulous study of the factors, human as well as material, related to scientists’ effectiveness in meeting research goals. An international research team, co-ordinated by Unesco, surveyed members of more than 1,200 different research groups working in a variety of disciplines in universities, government and private research institutes and industry. Systematic samples from six European countries – Austria, Belgium, Finland, Hungary, Poland and Sweden – are represented in the data. The authors’ innovative conceptual approaches and techniques will be of great interest to organizational psychologists and sociologists; their substantive findings, which challenge conventional wisdom about strategies for maximizing scientific productivity, will have important implications for all those concerned with science policy planning.