Libraries, research and development funding, and economic prosperity: data for the holistic university

Abstract Macro indicators of Research and Development (R&D) such as numbers of journal publications and citation rates, patents, impact factors, and R&D expenditures have become proxies for economic competitiveness. But quantifying relationships between macro-indicators and budgets supporting these indirect metrics of R&D are sparse, and some factors critical to the holistic university, such as expenditures on libraries, have been missed. We quantified post-1945 relationships between federal research and development (R&D) funding to large universities and individual university rankings and regional economic prosperity in the United States. Empirical data, substantiated by a principal component analysis of multiple additional university-specific factors, reveals that there are $21.34 of R&D expenditures for each $1 of library expenditures at 71 public universities; arts and humanities programs are a positive influence for acquiring R&D funds. University rankings for > 90 universities are also positively correlated to R&D expenditures. There is a $1:$264 ratio of state-wide R&D expenditures to state’s gross economic production ( R 2 = 0.86), and a $1:$59 ratio for a state’s per capita R&D expenditure vs. per capita income ( R 2 = 0.34). These empirical relationships can guide budget decisions. They support the conclusion that effective university R&D is fostered by a holistic framework espousing scholarship through research, teaching, and public service benefiting state-scale populations, and are currently at risk.