FROM STANDARDIZATION TO RELEVANCE AND BACK AGAIN - SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INDICATORS IN SMALL, PERIPHERAL COUNTRIES

This paper is based on a study of science and technology (S&T) activities in Uruguay carried out between 1986 and 1988. The authors discuss the inadequacy of standard indicators to cope with the specific characteristics of S&T activities in small underdeveloped countries like Uruguay. In such countries, the paper argues, a low degree of institutionalization, together with a high level of informality, have to be taken into account in designing, applying and interpreting indicators of S&T activity. The paper examines the usefulness of such an alternative approach to the measurement of S&T activities, drawing in particular on the Uruguayan case. © 1990.