Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (SORS)

Unit for statistics of education, sciece and culture

Serbia

1150 Belgrade

 st. Milana Rakica 5

Statistics on Government Budget Allocations for R&D (GBARD) measure government support to research and development (R&D) activities, and thereby provide information about the priority governments give to different public R&D funding activities. This type of funder-based approach for reporting R&D involves identifying all the budget items that may support R&D activities and measuring or estimating their R&D content.

Main concepts and definitions used for the production of R&D statistics are given by the OECD (2015), Frascati Manual 2015: Guidelines for Collecting and Reporting Data on Research and Experimental Development, The Measurement of Scientific, Technological and Innovation Activities (FM 2015, Chapter 12), which is the internationally recognised standard methodology for collecting R&D statistics and by Eurostat’s European Business Statistics Methodological Manual on R&D Statistics (EBS Methodological Manual on R&D Statistics).

Since the beginning of 2021, the collection of R&D statistics is based on Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 2020/1197 of 30 July 2020.

The Regulation sets the framework for the collection of R&D statistics and specifies the main variables of interest and their breakdowns at predefined level of detail (Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 of 30 July 2020 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics (europa.eu)).

Statistics on science, technology and innovation were collected until the end of 2020 based on Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 2012/995 concerning the production and development of Community statistics on science and technology.

Distribution by socioeconomic objectives (SEO) is based on the Nomenclature for the Analysis and Comparisons of Scientific Programmes and Budgets (NABS) at one digit level.

See below.

GBARD statistics are assumed to report detailed data on all the government's budget items that may support R&D activities and to measure or estimate their R&D content. For the purposes of GBARD, the Government sector comprises (a) the central (federal) government, (b) regional (state) government and (c) local (municipal) government subsectors (FM2015, Chapter 12).

Not requested.

The statistical report on budget allocations for research and development (BIN) is filled out by all direct users of the republican budget participating in the distribution of funds for research and development in the Republic of Serbia.

Reporting units (research and development financiers) present realized budget funds for research and development (after the budget rebalance) and planned budget funds for research and development (pre-rebalance).

Data on budgetary allocations for IR include financing and current and investment expenditures for R & D

The funds collected are classified according to the fields of research, socio-economic goals and the performance sector.

The purpose of the research and development program or project for which the budget funds are allocated is shown according to the socio-economic goals defined by the Nomenclature for analysis and comparison of scientific programs and budget (NABS 2007). The socio-economic goal is the primary purpose of the funds allocated for research and development set by the OECD.

It is important that the socio-economic objective of a program or project financed is determined by purpose, not by the content of that program or project.

R & D expenditure by type is divided into current expenditures (expenses) and investment expenditures.

Current expenditures (expenditures) include:

A) labor costs and costs of benefits to employees (gross salaries and gross wages for all employees in IR activities, other benefits to employees in IR, eg scholarships, awards, etc., and others.

B) other current expenses (material costs for research and development work - raw materials, materials, energy, payments based on

Work contracts and copyright contracts; Daily allowances, travel expenses, representation, and the like; And other expenditures).

Investment expenditures include expenditure on land and buildings; Machinery and equipment; Patents, licenses, studies and projects; Software and hardware (which implies the total costs associated with the purchase of computers, devices, systems, components and equipment, as well as the costs of purchasing or developing software for their own needs); And other expenditures.

According to the Fraskati manual, the sectors are determined according to the economic activity of the subject engaged in research and development work. Sector definitions are mainly based on the National Accounts System (SNA), with higher education being viewed as a separate sector, while households are merged with the non-profit sector. The decisive criterion for classification in a particular sector is the majority of the funds financed by a business entity.

The non-financial (business) sector includes business entities and organizations whose primary activity is the market production of goods and services and their sale at economically significant prices, as well as research and development units within the business entity.

Higher education includes high schools and universities with units within faculties, faculties, academies and scientific research institutes, regardless of sources of funding and legal status. This sector also belongs to research institutes and clinics under the direct control or administration of a higher education organization.

The government sector includes organizations, services and other bodies, with the exception of higher education, which provide the company with free, common services that could not be provided at market conditions, which are an expression of the economic and social policy of the society; By definition, this sector includes the activities of administration, defense and public order regulation; Health, education, culture, recreation and other social services.

The non-profit sector includes non-market private non-profit organizations that provide services to households at no cost or at a low cost. These organizations may be established by citizens' associations, in order to provide goods and services for members of the association or for general purposes.

The foreign sector includes organizations and individuals located outside the political borders of the country, as well as the relevant land owned by these organizations. Includes all international organizations, including their facilities on the domestic territory. Abroad contributions should not include general contributions to organizations such as the UN, OECD, EU and similar, and should include allocations for all other organizations, such as, among others, CERN, ESA, CGIAR, ESRF, EMBO, IAEA, COST and EUREKA .

Ministry, a local government body that finances research and development from budget funds.

See below.

The target population is the population for which inferences are made. The frame (or frames, as sometimes several frames are used) is a device that permits access to population units. The frame population is the set of population units, which can be accessed through the frame and the survey data really refer to this population.

Not requested.

Republic of Serbia (without data for Kosovo and Metohija).

Not requested. See point 5.

Not requested. The base year for the unit Purchasing Power Standard (PPS) and PPS per inhabitant at constant prices is currently 2005. All calculations of non-basic unit (national currencies) are done by Eurostat.

Not requested.

Thousands of RSD

a) Calendar year: The calendar year 

b) Fiscal year:

    Start month:

    End month:

See below.

Since the beginning of 2021, GBARD statistics are based on Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 2020/1197 of 30 July 2020 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics. The Regulation sets the framework for the collection of R&D statistics and specifies the main variables of interest and their breakdowns at predefined level of detail.  GBARD statistics were based until the end of 2020 on the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 2012/995 concerning the production and development of Community statistics on science and technology.

The Official Statistics Law („Official Gazette of the RS“, No. 104/09) specifies the legal framework for the production and dissemination of official statistics and also for the organization of the system of official statistics of the Republic of Serbia. Nevertheless, the Official Statistics Law, together with the five-year Statistical Programme over the period 2021 – 2025 and the annual implementation plans, provides the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (SORS) with a clear and broad legal mandate to collect and access the data needed for the execution of the Statistical Programme and the Implementation Plan.

In addition, pursuant to Article 18, paragraph 2 of the Law on Official Statistics (“Official Gazette of the RS”, No 104/09) and Article 42, paragraph 1 of the Law on Government Administration (“Official Gazette of the RS” No 55/05, 71/05‐corrigendum, 101/07, 65/08, 16/11, 68/2012 - decision of the Constitutional Court, 72/2012, 7/2014 - decision of the Constitutional Court, 44/2014 и 30/2018 - other law ), the Government adopts every year a regulation that defines the plan for official statistics.

-          Frascati Manual 2015, Guidelines for Collecting and Reporting Data on Research and Experimental Development

-          EBS Methodological Manual on R&D Statistics

Not requested.

The Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia has an agreement on cooperation with a large number of organizations and institutions, both nationally and internationally, with which it exchanges information, data and experiences.

There is also intensive cooperation between different organizational units within the Institute itself.

Confidentiality, being one of the process quality components, concerns the privacy of data providers (households, enterprises, administrations and other respondents), the confidentiality of the information they provide and the extent of its use for statistical purposes.

A property of data indicating the extent to which their unauthorised disclosure could be prejudicial or harmful to the interest of the source or other relevant parties.

a)       Confidentiality protection required by law:

Pursuant to Article 46 of the Law on Official Statistics (“Official Gazette of RS”, number 104/09), Articles 7 and 35 of the Law on Government Administration (“Official Gazette of RS ”, No 79/05, 101/07, 95/2010, 99/2014, 47/2018 and 30/2018 - other law) and Articles 9, 15, 16  and 18 of the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Interest (“Official Gazette of RS”, No120/04, 54 /07 104/09, 36/10 and 105/21), Director of the SORS hereby adopt Rulebook on statistical data protection in the statistical office of the Republic of Serbia. The Rulebook lays down the measures to be implemented so as to protect data and information in the SORS.

In addition, Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

b)       Confidentiality commitments of survey staff:

The protection of secret data and documents shall be done in accordance with the Law on Data Secrecy. Confidential data from Article 3 of the Rulebook are considered official secret and cannot be published or communicated, that is, they cannot be part of aggregated data from which individual data can be identified. Individual data can be given only to the owner of those data. Only the employees of the Office authorized by decision of the Director of the Office shall have access to confidential data from administrative sources.

Individual data can be given only to the owner of those data. Only the employees of the Office authorized by decision of the Director of the Office shall have access to confidential data from administrative sources.

Also, if SORS transmits data with a confidentiality flag or an embargo date, these data are not disseminated until the confidentiality flag is lifted in a subsequent data transmission or the embargo expired.

This indicator is available on the last day of June in the Statistical Release on the website of the SORS.

http://www.stat.gov.rs

External users can find the exact date of publication in the calendar located on the Institute's website.

http://www.stat.gov.rs

External users can find information in the Bulletin on the SORS's website.

https://publikacije.stat.gov.rs/G2022/PdfE/G20221167.pdf

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.

Annual

See below.

1) Y - Yes, N – No

See below.

1) Y – Yes, N - No 

https://publikacije.stat.gov.rs/G2022/PdfE/G20221167.pdf

Not requested.

Not available

See below.

See below.

Not requested.

1) Y – Yes, N - No 

All methodological isues are available in the national language: https://publikacije.stat.gov.rs/G2023/Pdf/G202320003.pdf

Not requested.

Not available.

See below.

Quality is provided by strict implementation of definitions and conceptual frameworks of European Statistics, Fractional methodology and through validation of data. Major deviations and inconsistencies were not observed.

National methodology has been done according to Frascati Manual, There were no deviations. It is comparable with othet countries

See below.

1)       Users' class codification 

1- Institutions:
• European level: Commission (DGs, Secretariat General), Council, European Parliament, ECB, other European agencies etc.
• in Member States, at the national or regional level: Ministries of Economy or Finance, other ministries (for sectoral comparisons), National Statistical Institutes and other statistical agencies (norms, training, etc.), and
• International organisations: OECD, UN, IMF, ILO, etc.

2- Social actors: Employers’ associations, trade unions, lobbies, among others, at the European, national or regional level.

3- Media: International or regional media – specialized or for the general public – interested both in figures and analyses or comments. The media are the main channels of statistics to the general public.

4- Researchers and students (Researchers and students need statistics, analyses, ad hoc services, access to specific data.)

5- Enterprises or businesses (Either for their own market analysis, their marketing strategy (large enterprises) or because they offer consultancy services)

6- Other (User class defined for national purposes, different from the previous classes.)

To evaluate if users' needs have been satisfied, the best way is to use user satisfaction surveys.

See below.

Not applicable

Completeness is assessed via comparison of the data delivered against the requirements of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 2020/1197.

1)  Criteria: Obligatory data (provisional budget and final budget). Only 'Very Good' = 100% and 'Very Poor' <100% apply.

2)  Criteria: Optional data (final budget). 'Very Good' = 100%; 'Good' = >75%;'Satisfactory' 50 to 75%%; 'Poor' 25 to 50%; 'Very Poor' 0 to 25%.

See below.

1) Availability of the data: N: No, data are not available, Y: Yes, data are available + start year.

2) Time of compilation: T is assumed to represent the end of reference period, x expresses the number of months after (positive) or before (negative) T when data is compiled

1) Availability of the data: N: No, data are not available, Y: Yes, data are available + start year.

2) Time of compilation: T is assumed to represent the end of reference period, x expresses the number of months after (positive) or before (negative) T when data is compiled

1) Stage: P - provisional, F - final. 

2) Availability of the data: No, data are not available, Y: Yes, data are available + start year.

3) Time of compilation: T is assumed to represent the end of reference period, x expresses the number of months after (positive) or before (negative) T when data is compiled

Accuracy in the statistical sense denotes the closeness of computations or estimates to the exact or true values. Statistics are not equal with the true values because of variability (the statistics change from implementation to implementation of the survey due to random effects) and bias (the average of the possible values of the statistics from implementation to implementation is not equal to the true value due to systematic effects).

Several types of statistical errors occur during the survey process. The following typology of errors has been adopted:

1. Sampling errors. These only affect sample surveys. They are due to the fact that only a subset of the population, usually randomly selected, is enumerated.

2. Non-sampling errors. Non-sampling errors affect sample surveys and complete enumerations alike and comprise:

a) Coverage errors,

b) Measurement errors,

c) Non response errors and

d) Processing errors.

Model assumption errors should be treated under the heading of the respective error they are trying to reduce.

1)  Ranking of the type(s) of errors that result in over/under-estimation, from the most important source of error (1) to the least important source of error (5) In the event that errors of a particular type do not exist, is used the sign ‘-‘.

2)  The perceived direction of the ‘overall’ error using the signs “+” for over estimation, “-” for under estimation and “+/-” when assumption of the direction of the error cannot be made for GBARD.

1) High level of coverage (At least all national or federal ministries and the ministries and agencies responsible for R&D funding at state or regional level). High rate of response (>90%) in data collection. All figures broken down by NABS.  

2) If at least one out of the three criteria described above would not be fully met.

3) In the event that the rate of response would be lower than 80% even by meeting the two remaining criteria.

4) In the event that the average rate of response would be lower than 70% and at least one of the two remaining criteria would not be met.

5) If all the three criteria described above are not met.

Not requested.

Not applicable

Not requested.

Not applicable

Non-sampling errors occur in all phases of a survey. They add to the sampling errors (if present) and contribute to decreasing overall accuracy. It is important to assess their relative weight in the total error and devote appropriate resources for their control and assessment.

Coverage errors are due to divergences between the target population and the frame population. The frame population is the set of target population members that has a chance to be selected into the survey sample. It is a listing of all items in the population from which the sample is drawn that contains contact details as well as sufficient information to perform stratification and sampling.

a)       Description/assessment of coverage errors: Not applicable

b)      Measures taken to reduce their effect:

Not applicable

Not requested.

Not applicable

Measurement errors occur during data collection and generate bias by recording values different than the true ones. The survey questionnaire used for data collection may have led to the recording of wrong values.

a)       Description/assessment of measurement errors: 

Not applicable

b)      Measures taken to reduce their effect:

Non response errors: occur when a survey failed to collect data on all survey variables from all the population units designated for data collection in a sample or complete enumeration.

a) Problems in obtaining data from targeted information providers: Full coverage

b) Measures taken to reduce their effect:

c) Effect of non-response errors on the produced statistics:

Not requested.

Not applicable

Not requested.

Not applicable

Between data collection and the beginning of statistical analysis, data must undergo a certain processing: coding, data entry, data editing, imputation, etc. Errors introduced at these stages are called processing errors. Data editing identifies inconsistencies or errors in the data.

a)       Data processing and editing processes: Not applicable

b)      Description of errors:

c)       Measures taken to reduce their effect:

Model assumption errors occur when the assumptions made for the estimation of parameters, models, the testing of statistical hypotheses, etc., are violated. As a result, the quality of the resulting statistics is affected (e.g. degrees of confidence might be inflated).

Description/assessment: Not applicable

Timeliness and punctuality refer to time and dates, but in a different manner: the timeliness of statistics reflects the length of time between their availability and the event or phenomenon they describe. Punctuality refers to the time lag between the release date of the data and the target date on which they should have been delivered, with reference to dates announced in the official release calendar.

According to the Transmission Programme, annual data should be transmitted to Eurostat within 6 months after the end of the reference year, as previous data (t+6), and t+12 month, as final data. National data аре published in T + 6 interval as final.

Date of first release of national data: Not applicable

Date of first release of national data: Not applicable

Punctuality refers to the time lag between the release date of data and the target date on which they were scheduled for release as announced officially.

All deadlines for data publishing are fully respected: 06/29

Punctuality of time schedule of data release = (Actual date of the data release) - (Scheduled date of the data release)

T+6

See below.

Not requested.

Not applicable

The following table lists a number of key survey concepts and conceptual issues; it gives reference to the Commission Regulation No 2020/1197, Frascati manual and the EBS Methodological Manual on R&D Statistics paragraphs with recommendations about these concepts / issues.

GBARD encompass all spending allocations met from sources of government revenue foreseen within the budget, such as taxation. Spending allocations by extra-budgetary government entities are within the scope only to the extent that their funds are allocated through the budgetary process (FM2015 §12.9). The following table lists a number of key methodological issues, which may affect the international comparability of national GBARD statistics.

See below.

See below.

1)       Breaks years are years for which data are not fully comparable to the previous period.

GERD data are based on reports by R&D performers, whereas GBARD is based on reports by funders;

the GERD-based series cover only R&D performed on national territory, whereas GBAORD also includes payments  to foreign performers, including international organisations

Not requested.

Not applicable

Not requested.

Not applicable

This part compares GBARD statistics from the provisional and final budget for the reference year.

Not applicable

The assessment of costs associated with a statistical product is a rather complicated task since there must exist a mechanism for appointing portions of shared costs (for instance shared IT resources and dissemination channels) and overheads (office space, utility bills etc). The assessment must become detailed and clear enough so that international comparisons among agencies of different structures are feasible. 

Not available

1)       The shares of the figures given in the first column that are accounted for by payments to private firms or other Government agencies.

1)        T = the time required to provide the information, including time spent assembling information prior to completing a form or taking part in interview and the time taken up by any subsequent contacts after receipt of the questionnaire (‘Re-contact time’)

National data on investments are revised according to national schedule. General Revision policy as an official document is available on the SORS website. Revised data are available at SORS online database as soon as they become validated.

Not requested.

The published data should be regarded as final, unless otherwise stated. Corrections and revisions might occur.

Major changes in methodology are usually announced in advance and users are informed of revisions and major changes in methodology on the SORS website.

Not requested.

a)       Provisional data: sent to Eurostat after data collection and analysis, by 30th June

b)      Final data: 

Government institutions that actvely participate in the implementing national research policy and financing R&D from budget (ministries).

Adopted budget and budget after the rebalance.

c)       General University Funds (GUF):

See 12.3.3.

See below.

1) Time of data collection (T+x): T is assumed to represent the end of reference period. x expresses the number of months after (positive) or before (negative) T when data is collected.

From Ministry of education; The funds that the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development earmarked for research and development at the higher education sector. These are general university funds which include covering the costs of scientific and research work and the work of teachers and staff of higher education institutions in graduate school.

Data on expenditures for science are checked for accuracy and completeness. Transmitted figures are screened both internally, by SORS and externally, by Eurostat.  

See below.

Not applicable

Not applicable

See below.

Not applicable

Not requested.

Not applicable

Not requested.