Library and Information Science

379 information units created through the research and development activity of a national project “Flexible Manufacturing System Complex Provided with Laser” were analyzed. This national project was planed to be carried out between 1977 and 1985, sponsered by the Electrotechnical Laboratories of the Ministry of Internal Trade and Industry. The data analyzed include oral presentations, journal articles and other publications, patent specification, and other information units presented by some 55 researchers before the end of May 1982. The analysis was done through following view points; 1) Type of information media used, 2) Language used, 3) Institutional distribution, 4) Time dispersion, 5) Percentage of patent information included 6) Internal information flow among researchers based on the co-authorship, 7) Cost effectiveness based on the unit cost per information.

The author provide the following insights: (1) Research and development activities can be classified into basic research and applied development based on the type of information media used. Hierarchical levels from basic research to applied development are found, and the percentage of pattent information is a effective indicator of these levels. (2) Cost per information, used with cost per research group and cost per researcher, is a useful creteria in evaluating research and development activity.