Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020

Fig. 1-14: Number of scientific (citable) articles in all disciplines, standardised by country population, 2018
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
4.5
5.0
DN
K
SW
E
FIN
LU
X
NL
D
CY
P
SV
N
IRL
BE
L
AU
T
GBR
ES
T
PR
T
Ø E
U-2
8
CZ
E
DEU
ES
P
ITA
HRV
M
LT
FR
A
GRC
SV
K
LT
U
POL
LV
A
HU
N
RO
U
BG
R
CH
E
ZAF
AU
S
CA
N
US
A
CH
N
BR
A
EU Member States
Reference countries
Nu
m
be
r o
f a
rt
ic
le
s p
er 1
,0
00 i
nh
ab
ita
nt
s
Source: Scimago Journal & Country Rank (2019). Graphic: iit.

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1. Current Trends
35
In addition to the total number of publications, 
the number of articles relating to computing (SCIma-
go specialism: “Computer Science”) and the engi-
neering sciences (SCImago specialism: “Engineer-
ing”) are also analysed to produce a further indicator. 
In view of the onward march of digitalisation, looking 
at these areas separately allows conclusions to be 
drawn about Austria’s scientific output in the fields 
of science, technology, engineering and mathematics 
(STEM) as well as ICT, which will be especially im-
portant for countries’ future competitiveness and ca-
pability to innovate. 
Fig. 1-15 shows the number of “Computer Science” 
and “Engineering” articles published per 1,000 inhab-
itants. Austria (0.81) is the seventh-placed European 
country, just behind Portugal (0.83) but ahead of the 
Netherlands, an “Innovation Leader”. This puts 
Austria back among the top places. The country also 
compares well to its peers outside Europe, coming in 
ahead of the USA (0.48) and Canada (0.73) but just 
behind Australia (0.91). The best performer, both 
within the EU and overall, is Luxembourg (1.50). 
All in all, it can be established that Austria’s R&D 
expenditure (as a percentage of GDP) is high and 
the federal government’s target breakdown of R&D 
funding (two thirds from the business enterprise 
and one third from the public sector) has been 
achieved – although only if R&D funding from 
abroad is added to the funds obtained from its do-
mestic private sector. Austria’s RTI output is also 
high. Its number of scientific publications is in the 
upper mid-range compared with other European 
countries, both overall and in terms of computer sci-
ence and engineering publications. Its patent inten-
sity is falling, although this downward trend is ob-
servable in many countries and not just in Austria. 
One plausible explanation for this trend (albeit one 
hard to verify) lies in the fact that patents are no 
longer being seen as the best possible way to pro-
tect innovations at present as digitalisation is on