ABSTRACT
UNESCO's efforts to extend the measurement of S&T to other dimensions than R&D inputs were only the first such efforts in the history of S&T statistics. In 1973, the National Science Foundation (NSF) published Science Indicators (hereafter SI), the “first effort to develop [a whole range of] indicators of the state of the science enterprise in the United States:”
The ultimate goal of this report is a set of indices which would reveal the strengths and weaknesses of US science and technology, in terms of the capacity and performance of the enterprise in contributing to national objectives.
(National Science Board (1973), Science Indicators 1972, Washington, p. iii)