Investment in R&D and in a workforce equipped to perform technologically advanced activities enables scientific discovery, which supports the development of STI capabilities, including capabilities in critical and emerging technologies (see sidebar Critical and Emerging Technologies). In turn, STI capabilities result in scientific publications, patent activity, and knowledge- and technology-intensive (KTI) industry output. The United States is the world leader with respect to many STI capabilities and outputs—especially KTI services—although overall invention and innovation output continues a long-term shift toward other regions of the globe, including China and India.

Publication of research in peer-reviewed literature is an important mechanism for disseminating new S&E knowledge, which supports the development of innovations and the vitality of KTI industries.^{​The section “Research Publications” draws on data and sources in the Indicators 2024 report “Publications Output: U.S. Trends and International Comparisons.”} Globally, six countries combined produced more than 50% of the worldwide peer-reviewed S&E publications in 2022: China (27%), the United States (14%), India (6%), Germany (3%), the United Kingdom (3%), and Japan (3%) (Figure 18). The United States was the top producer of S&E articles until 2016, after which China has been the leading producer. From 2003 to 2022, annual S&E publications increased by roughly a third (36%) in the United States, whereas they increased approximately 10-fold in China and 8-fold in India. Japan, the second-highest producer of S&E articles in 2003, experienced little change in publications output, falling to the sixth spot by 2020.

The distribution of publications by field and by region, country, or economy is one indicator of research priorities and capabilities. In the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan, the largest proportion of journal articles published in 2022 was in the field of health sciences. In China, the largest proportion was in engineering. In India, the largest proportion was in computer and information sciences.

S&E publications authored by researchers in the United States are highly impactful, as measured by the level of citations they receive. From 2003 to 2019, the highly cited article (HCA) index for the United States was stable at between 1.8 and 1.9, although it declined to 1.7 in 2020 (Figure 19) (see Glossary section for definition of HCA). Because the baseline value for this index is 1.0, this means that the United States contributed nearly twice as many HCAs relative to its share of total publications. As of 2020, Germany had an HCA score similar to the United States (1.7), and the United Kingdom had the highest HCA score (2.2) out of the top producers of S&E articles. China and India have increased their HCA scores simultaneously with their volume of scientific publishing, which indicates that their publication growth has been especially high among HCAs. China’s HCA score increased from well below baseline in 2003 (0.5) to 1.3 in 2020.

Open-access (OA) publications provide free access to peer-reviewed scientific literature without requiring user fees or journal subscriptions. Scientists, institutions, and funders have offered support for increased publication in OA venues through both open encouragement and requirements that funded research outputs be freely available (Brainard and Kaiser 2022). Between 2003 and 2022, the number of S&E articles published through each type of OA journal experienced far greater percentage-based growth than articles published in traditional closed-access journals (see Glossary section for definitions of four commonly used OA publication types) (Figure 20). Gold OA articles (which are articles published in fully OA journals as a matter of journal policy) increased over 50-fold, from 19,000 articles published in 2003 to 992,000 articles in 2022. As a result of this rapid growth, Gold OA articles expanded from 2% of all S&E articles in 2003 to 32% in 2022.

Whereas most (77%) S&E articles in 2003 were published in closed-access journals, just under half (49%) were published in closed-access journals in 2022. This expansion of OA publishing may represent a shift toward both a more open paradigm for the dissemination of research and a change in the structure of academic publishing, as many types of OA articles often require article processing fees from authors rather than fees from readers.

The global S&E enterprise regularly produces new basic knowledge and other outputs with direct benefits for society and the economy. These outputs include inventions (creation of new and useful products and processes as well as their improvement) and innovations (implementation of a new or improved product or business process that differs significantly from previous products or processes).^{​The section “Invention and Innovation” draws on data and sources in the Indicators 2024 report “Invention, Knowledge Transfer, and Innovation.”} Patents are one way that governments support invention by providing legal mechanisms for intellectual property protection. Patent documents provide detailed information that is widely used to understand invention activity.

International patent applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (see Glossary section for definition of Patent Cooperation Treaty application) represent inventors’ interests in protecting their ideas internationally. Global patenting activity is at the highest levels in China (69,000 international patent applications in 2022), the United States (58,000), the EU-27 (51,000), and Japan (48,000) (Figure 21). The number of international patent applications from inventors based in China increased rapidly in the 2010s, resulting in a significant shift in the balance of patenting worldwide. Although the United States had more than twice as many international patent applications as China in 2015, the two countries had similar application numbers in 2020, with China surpassing the United States for the first time in 2021.

Across all countries, the largest share of international patent applications in 2022 was in the technology category of electrical engineering (37%), followed by chemistry (22%), instruments (17%), and mechanical engineering (16%), with other fields accounting for the remaining 7%. Patent applications in the field of electrical engineering—which includes semiconductors, computer technology, and digital communication—experienced the fastest growth, increasing more than fivefold from 19,000 in 2000 to 98,000 in 2022. Inventors from the United States were responsible for the largest share of international patent applications in chemistry and in instruments, accounting for 27% of the world total in each field in 2022. Patent applications from China were more focused in electrical engineering, where China-based inventors accounted for 37% of total international patent applications in this field. Inventors from the EU-27 accounted for the largest share (31%) of international patent applications in mechanical engineering.

Patents issued by the Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) focus on inventions, both foreign and domestic, that are granted exclusive use rights in the U.S. market. Utility patents granted by the USPTO have increased both to domestic inventors and to inventors residing in other countries (see Glossary section for definitions of USPTO patents and utility patents).^{​For the data presented in this paragraph, USPTO patents are fractionally allocated among regions, countries, or economies based on the proportion of residences of all named inventors.} Of the 325,000 USPTO utility patents granted in 2022, a total of 142,000 (44%) were granted to U.S. inventors. Foreign inventors’ share of USPTO patents increased from 52% in 2012 to 56% in 2022, reflecting the long-term trend of increased internationalization of U.S. patents. Inventors from Japan (46,000) and the EU-27 (40,000) accounted for the largest shares of foreign USPTO patent grantees in 2022, although patents granted to inventors from China (28,000) have been increasing at a faster rate than either Japan or the EU-27.

Patenting activity is unevenly distributed across the United States and is highest in regions that also have strong concentrations of STEM workers and KTI industries. Patenting intensity is defined here as the number of utility patents granted to patent inventors in a county relative to its population. Counties with the highest patenting intensity are generally located in the Northeast, the West Coast, and in parts of the Great Lakes region, Texas, and the Rocky Mountains (Figure 22). In 2022, Santa Clara County in California’s Silicon Valley region had the highest patenting intensity. Three of the country’s top five counties in patenting intensity were in the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland combined statistical area. Patents were granted to inventors in 64% of U.S. counties in 2022.