Germany Italy

France

Spain

UnitedKingdom

500

Res

earc

h s

pen

din

g ad

just

ed f

or p

urc

has

ing

pow

er

(Cur

rent

US$, b

illio

ns)

Den

sity

of

rese

arch

ers

(per

1,0

00 p

opula

tion)

400

300

200

100

6

3

0

02000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014

R&D as percentage of gross domestic product0 1 2 3 4 5

2016

0 20Free-to-read share of papers

published in 2017 (%)

40 60

UnitedKingdom

Switzerland

Denmark

Sweden

UnitedStates

Japan

Austria

Belgium

Finland

China

EU28

Germany

France

Total R&D(US$, billions)

100

20

5

Israel

SouthKorea

9

Estonia

Germany

TheNetherlands

Austria

Bulgaria

Malta

Rep., Republic;BH, Bosnia and Herzegovina;

Mon., Montenegro; Kos., Kosovo;NM, North Macedonia.

Nature publications remain neutralwith regard to contested jurisdictional

claims in published maps.

*Papers assigned to countries fractionally by authors.

Belgium

Luxembourg

Switzerland

SwedenNorway

Iceland

Denmark

Ireland

France

Greece

Italy

Portugal

Spain

Poland

Slovakia

Turkey

Cyprus

BelarusRussia

Ukraine

Moldova

Georgia

Armenia

Azerbaijan

Czech Rep.

Romania

Albania

Serbia

KosMon.

BH

NM

Hungary

UnitedKingdom

CroatiaSlovenia

Lithuania

Latvia

Finland

United Kingdom

The Netherlands

World

United States

Europe

Italy

Greece

Norway

Poland

Croatia

2010 2016

EU15average

Switzerland

UnitedKingdom

Italy

Germany

Poland

Latvia

Lithuania

EU13average

2

4

6

8

14

12

10

16

United States

Europe

China

Germany

EU28

Denmark

Estonia

The Netherlands

Per

cent

age

of a

rtic

les

in t

he

wor

ld’s

top

10%

cite

d p

aper

s

World average

2.6 million

Total: 1.2 million

2018

EU15 EU13

2003

SCIENCE IN EUROPEA special issuego.nature.com/europe

Nature

OPEN ACCESSA group of mainly European funders has said that, from 2020, their articles must be open access on publication — under ‘Plan S’. In 2017, 47% of Europe’s research articles were free to read — compared with the world’s 41%.

ARTICLE OUTPUTIn 2003, the EU produced one-third of the world’s papers*, but by 2018 — because of faster growth in other countries — that proportion had shrunk to one-quarter.

REGIONAL DIFFERENCESR&D spending di�ers greatly not only by country, but also within each. This map shows how spending per inhabitant is much higher in particular regions, including prosperous Scandinavia, parts of southern England, the Benelux countries, southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland. There is a poorer and less research-intensive periphery to the east and south.

The Braunschweig region in Germany (spending €3,737 per inhabitant on research) is the EU’s most research-intensive area.

RESEARCH ECONOMY The EU’s 28 member states spent around €320 billion on R&D in 2017; public spending was around 40% of this, taking into account funds from the EU’s central budget. Sweden, Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland lead the world in terms of the share of their economies devoted to research (behind Israel and South Korea). But the EU13 countries invest smaller shares. The Nordic countries have the highest researcher density, relative to their R&D spending.

EU28 Rest of EuropeUnited States China Other

Open-access journalHybrid journalFree at publisher’s siteFree only in a repository

EU15

Rest of Europe

EU13

R&D spending per inhabitant

No data

EU15 Rest of EuropeEU13

CITATIONSDenmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland lead the world in citation impact; almost 16% of their respective papers are in the world’s top 10%*. The EU13 countries are improving rapidly — particularly Estonia, Latvia, Poland and Lithuania.

Low High

SCIENCE SPENDINGEurope’s countries have increased their spending on research and development (R&D) by more than 5% per year in real terms since 2000. But China is quickly overtaking them. In absolute terms, China spends around two-thirds of what the EU does on R&D, but has passed the bloc in terms of purchasing power, which adjusts for di�erences in costs. Europe’s share of world R&D spending has shrunk from around 28% in 2000 to 23% in 2016.

Europe is a diverse patchwork of countries at di�erent stages of scienti�c development — from the research-intensive Nordic region, through the science powerhouses of Germany, the United Kingdom and France, to former communist states trying to strengthen their research bases and countries that extend into Asia. All that diversity feeds a common goal. The European Union, a bloc of 28 member states and more than 500 million people, has put science and innovation at the heart of its societal and economic development. It funds large, pan-European research programmes that extend wider than the EU itself and support collaborative research and mobility across the bloc.

�e region already hosts some of the world’s leading scientific countries, and some of its smaller states are quickly catching up.

B Y R I C H A R D V A N N O O R D E N A N D D E C L A N B U T L E R

EUROPE NUMBERSTHEBY

= 1 paper per 10,000 population

EU15: before 2004EU member states:

EU13: joined since 2004

Other European countries

SO

UR

CE:

SC

IEN

CE-

MET

RIX

/SC

OP

US

4 7 0 | N A T U R E | V O L 5 6 9 | 2 3 M A Y 2 0 1 9©

2019

Springer

Nature

Limited.

All

rights

reserved. ©

2019

Springer

Nature

Limited.

All

rights

reserved.

Germany Italy

France

Spain

UnitedKingdom

500

Res

earc

h s

pen

din

g ad

just

ed f

or p

urc

has

ing

pow

er

(Cur

rent

US$, b

illio

ns)

Den

sity

of

rese

arch

ers

(per

1,0

00 p

opula

tion)

400

300

200

100

6

3

0

02000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014

R&D as percentage of gross domestic product0 1 2 3 4 5

2016

0 20Free-to-read share of papers

published in 2017 (%)

40 60

UnitedKingdom

Switzerland

Denmark

Sweden

UnitedStates

Japan

Austria

Belgium

Finland

China

EU28

Germany

France

Total R&D(US$, billions)

100

20

5

Israel

SouthKorea

9

Estonia

Germany

TheNetherlands

Austria

Bulgaria

Malta

Rep., Republic;BH, Bosnia and Herzegovina;

Mon., Montenegro; Kos., Kosovo;NM, North Macedonia.

Nature publications remain neutralwith regard to contested jurisdictional

claims in published maps.

*Papers assigned to countries fractionally by authors.

Belgium

Luxembourg

Switzerland

SwedenNorway

Iceland

Denmark

Ireland

France

Greece

Italy

Portugal

Spain

Poland

Slovakia

Turkey

Cyprus

BelarusRussia

Ukraine

Moldova

Georgia

Armenia

Azerbaijan

Czech Rep.

Romania

Albania

Serbia

KosMon.

BH

NM

Hungary

UnitedKingdom

CroatiaSlovenia

Lithuania

Latvia

Finland

United Kingdom

The Netherlands

World

United States

Europe

Italy

Greece

Norway

Poland

Croatia

2010 2016

EU15average

Switzerland

UnitedKingdom

Italy

Germany

Poland

Latvia

Lithuania

EU13average

2

4

6

8

14

12

10

16

United States

Europe

China

Germany

EU28

Denmark

Estonia

The Netherlands

Per

cent

age

of a

rtic

les

in t

he

wor

ld’s

top

10%

cite

d p

aper

s

World average

2.6 million

Total: 1.2 million

2018

EU15 EU13

2003

SCIENCE IN EUROPEA special issuego.nature.com/europe

Nature

OPEN ACCESSA group of mainly European funders has said that, from 2020, their articles must be open access on publication — under ‘Plan S’. In 2017, 47% of Europe’s research articles were free to read — compared with the world’s 41%.

ARTICLE OUTPUTIn 2003, the EU produced one-third of the world’s papers*, but by 2018 — because of faster growth in other countries — that proportion had shrunk to one-quarter.

REGIONAL DIFFERENCESR&D spending di�ers greatly not only by country, but also within each. This map shows how spending per inhabitant is much higher in particular regions, including prosperous Scandinavia, parts of southern England, the Benelux countries, southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland. There is a poorer and less research-intensive periphery to the east and south.

The Braunschweig region in Germany (spending €3,737 per inhabitant on research) is the EU’s most research-intensive area.

RESEARCH ECONOMY The EU’s 28 member states spent around €320 billion on R&D in 2017; public spending was around 40% of this, taking into account funds from the EU’s central budget. Sweden, Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland lead the world in terms of the share of their economies devoted to research (behind Israel and South Korea). But the EU13 countries invest smaller shares. The Nordic countries have the highest researcher density, relative to their R&D spending.

EU28 Rest of EuropeUnited States China Other

Open-access journalHybrid journalFree at publisher’s siteFree only in a repository

EU15

Rest of Europe

EU13

R&D spending per inhabitant

No data

EU15 Rest of EuropeEU13

CITATIONSDenmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland lead the world in citation impact; almost 16% of their respective papers are in the world’s top 10%*. The EU13 countries are improving rapidly — particularly Estonia, Latvia, Poland and Lithuania.

Low High

SCIENCE SPENDINGEurope’s countries have increased their spending on research and development (R&D) by more than 5% per year in real terms since 2000. But China is quickly overtaking them. In absolute terms, China spends around two-thirds of what the EU does on R&D, but has passed the bloc in terms of purchasing power, which adjusts for di�erences in costs. Europe’s share of world R&D spending has shrunk from around 28% in 2000 to 23% in 2016.

Europe is a diverse patchwork of countries at di�erent stages of scienti�c development — from the research-intensive Nordic region, through the science powerhouses of Germany, the United Kingdom and France, to former communist states trying to strengthen their research bases and countries that extend into Asia. All that diversity feeds a common goal. The European Union, a bloc of 28 member states and more than 500 million people, has put science and innovation at the heart of its societal and economic development. It funds large, pan-European research programmes that extend wider than the EU itself and support collaborative research and mobility across the bloc.

�e region already hosts some of the world’s leading scientific countries, and some of its smaller states are quickly catching up.

B Y R I C H A R D V A N N O O R D E N A N D D E C L A N B U T L E R

EUROPE NUMBERSTHEBY

= 1 paper per 10,000 population

EU15: before 2004EU member states:

EU13: joined since 2004

Other European countries

SO

UR

CES

: OPEN

AC

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2 3 M A Y 2 0 1 9 | V O L 5 6 9 | N A T U R E | 4 7 1

FEATURE NEWS

© 2019

Springer

Nature

Limited.

All

rights

reserved. ©

2019

Springer

Nature

Limited.

All

rights

reserved.